


Rise ye sunken ships

by snoozingkitten



Category: Captain America (2011), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M, Steve has some issues to deal with, Steve is made of feelings and muscles, Tony doesn't have issues he has a suscription, accidental Jurassic Park fusion, there are dinsaurs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-08
Updated: 2012-09-08
Packaged: 2017-11-13 20:21:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 42,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/507364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snoozingkitten/pseuds/snoozingkitten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Where a moment of weakness (and fondue) leads to the birth of one Tony Stark. After all Peggy Carter was dynamite and couldn’t be expected to pine forever. In the future a different meeting between Iron Man and Captain America-- because Steve looked at him and he <i>knew</i>. The ‘yo’ mama’ jokes stop here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rise ye sunken ships

**Author's Note:**

> This came about as an offhand comment, and soon spiralled way out of control growing and mutating. I realize I needed to fudge the maths and biology of pregnancy a little to make it work; but for the sake of plot let’s pretend it works out fine. A massive thank you to track_04 and youkosiren @LJ for listening to me when I thought I was going insane while writing this. Because at one point I honestly did turn to them and declare 'I got bored of writing feelings so we needed to punch some dinosaurs' 
> 
> This was actually completed towards the end of February long before the Avengers film actually came out so it’s none film-cannon compliant while still being MCU. I’ve been waffling about posting it ever since then.

“It’s like Jerry Springer meets Dr. Who” 

 

The future, and honestly Steve had never been one to think of the future he always had both feet firmly rooted in the here and now, was unexpectedly harsh. From waking up confused because he was supposed to be quite _dead_ , he remembered ice, biting cold and dying, to being slapped in the face with the fact that he’d slept in sixty odd years was nothing but a rough ride. It was full of blinking lights and ‘supposed’ conveniences that Howard had theorized about endlessly, quick hands making shapes in the air as his mind whirled faster than the cars in the carnival rides Bucky used to drag him on. It was too fast and too bright, Bucky would have loved it everything was dazzled with pizzazz screaming for attention all at once. It hurt his head. It really did, there was so much to catch up on that it was physically painful. But he soldiered on because that’s what he always does. What other choice was there? 

So he spent an awkward month watching television, but mostly reading and training, he was given a contemporary history text book and a punching bag to work off his excess energy and the bitter burn of frustration and loss. It was difficult, reading about his own hand in the Second World War. It wasn’t wrong per say but he didn’t like the way they said it. History made him into some kind of hero, and he heard the lecture enough times on ‘Heroes are more than just the people they are symbols, a single point to unite around’. Steve could understand that, but what he didn’t understand was why that had to be _him_ he was no different than the other men who would willingly lay down their lives to protect the country they loved. He just had some flashy clothes. To be honest, it was probably the flashy clothes.

None of it made it feel okay. There probably wasn’t anything that would make everything okay again.

Nothing felt right. Even the fabric of his clothes was wrong; the inflections of the words were all different. Words meant entirely different things than they did when he was growing up. Smoking was bad. Women wore less clothes and worked in equal numbers to the men, you could irradiate food to heat it up faster and Steve wasn’t sure what to do about that so he put it away for later. He didn’t go outside, he was brave but he wasn’t _that_ brave. Images of what Time Square had become haunted him long after they had put him back into the tower like he was living the tale of Sleeping Beauty. 

The ghosts of all the people who lived and died haunted him while he slept, all of it seemed so impossible. More so even than his transformation in the first place. He’d only just wrapped his head about the scale of war when everything crashed. 

After two months he could go outside without gawking like a child, but that didn’t mean he wanted to. He wouldn’t say he was equipped, to deal with 2012, but he was a bit better. Which is when Mr. Fury approached him about **The Avengers**. 

With the Avengers came new levels of weirdness and at this point it was complete saturation he had all but given up trying to gauge how weird things were. _Aliens, aliens like in comic books!_ Thor was nice enough, if not overly loud, he reminded Steve of all the soldiers in the times between the fighting, when they were just a bunch of boys in a bad place making the best of everything. Natasha actually scared him in the way that most women did but even worse since she didn’t hide her curves at all and he wasn’t sure where to look because her eyes were cold and severe and that seemed even worse somehow. She didn’t initiate eye contact unless she was getting ready to rip into someone verbally or physically. 

Clint seemed amused by him. Steve wouldn’t mind this except it seemed more like he was the joke, and not that he was in on the joke. He didn’t have anything to say anything about it, because Clint never said anything, it was all in the tilt of his chin and eyebrows and Steve couldn’t be sure that was really what he meant since everything was so different and Clint didn’t seem inclined to want to offer him a hand with it. 

Agent Coulson had been his contact and his brisk business-like manner was a balm on Steve’s frayed nerves. He never seem to care either way if Steve didn’t understand something, just explained it in a different way. He took the same disinterested tone that Steve’s fourth grade English teacher used to take. Steve preferred art but he always had listened well. 

They have had a few preliminary meetings, but this will be the first time the Avengers are all gathered together in one spot. Steve is a little excited despite himself. It was something to look forward to, to pull himself away from the yawning endless stretches of time hiding in his gym trying to figure out if it was even worth trying. 

When Tony Stark first walked into the room Steve has no idea who he was, Fury had mentioned that Iron Man was a consultant and wouldn’t be on as a team member. Obliquely he knew Howard had a son, the books always mentioned the efforts of Howard and reference Stark Industries, carried on by his only child – Anthony Stark. Steve hadn’t made the connection between Iron Man, Howard, and Tony until the proof was standing right in front of him, looking simultaneously out of place and right at home in the long meeting room at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters in his sunglasses and suit combo. 

It made his heart beat fast and too hard, and it’s _impossible_ ; ghosts aren’t real no matter how hard he wanted them to be. 

“Who are you?” He couldn’t stop himself from asking the question, it suicide-leapt off his tongue without any input from his brain at all. The look directed at him is incredulous, which fine, Clint, Dr. Banner and Natasha were giving him odd looks too and Thor didn’t look like he particularly minded what was going on at all. 

“Me? Everyone knows me one way or another, I’m Tony Stark.” His eyebrows went up and the edges of his mouth pulled into a faint smirk. He looked relaxed and amused, a king among men, he flicked the glasses off, quick fingers hiding them somewhere in his jacket. His eyes were dark, so very achingly familiar. 

“Who were your parents?” the question did something weird to his face, he sort of shut down amused expression clouding over. He gave Steve a sharp little smile. 

“Surely you’ve heard of Daddy Stark.” He began but Steve was already talking over him because nothing else had ever been so important, it was clawing at the inside of his stomach like something alive. 

“No, _your mother_.” Those were the same eyes that used to look back at him from a stolen photograph in a pocket watch.

Mr. Stark (didn’t that feel weird? Howard had been Mr. Stark-Call-Me-Howard) looked shocked for a moment, and Steve couldn’t tear his eyes away from his face too look at the others’ reactions. The look vanished under a wide toothy smile. “Now is this really the kind of meeting we want to start with yo mama jokes? Not that those aren’t fun. Got any for Fury? I’d pay good money to see that. I mean it. If you ever need more funding that’s the ticket.” 

“Gentleman and Black Widow, I think we’re ready to begin.” Mr. Fury cut in, voice hard like a drill sergeant and just as demanding of compliance. Steve’s mouth snapped shut with a click, and Mr. Stark wasn’t even looking at him anymore, he’d been completely brushed off. Mr. Fury continued the briefing, explaining the initiative and the proposed scope of their response duties. Steve was trying really hard to pay attention. 

He was. But his eyes kept getting drawn to Mr. Stark, Anthony Stark. He couldn’t help himself because it was like a bridge right into the past. Anthony looked so much like his father it hurt. But that’s not it. And Steve couldn’t even begin to feel mad, nothing but the massive crushing sensation of loss for the years that everyone lived out when he wasn’t there. He didn’t make their date, what else could he have expected? 

Anthony looked just enough like Peggy for it to be obvious to someone looking for it. 

The meeting broke and Tony gave them all one last look, eyebrows drawn tight before he explained that his time is worth more than any of them could afford before leaving like a storm, hands already flying over something small and glowing cupped between his palms. Steve wasn’t quick enough to corner him; Tony moved with the effortless grace of someone who had somewhere important to be. 

“Mr. Fury.” Steve did manage to corner him; he always gave him the weirdest look when Steve called him that. 

“Iron Man’s file. I need a closer look at it.” Mr. Fury had this way of looking at you like he could see right through someone. All the focus of two eyes concentrated into one stare; turned onto Steve now. “Please.” It would be polite to ask Tony, but he needed to know right now. Half wanted his suspicions to be false because he’d _loved her_ , and half wanted them to be true because that would mean he still had a part of her to hold on to. 

All he had been told about Peggy was that she many died years ago. There was a commendation on in her file that she died for her cause and in the defence of her country and was a prime example of a field agent. It had been too much to hope that she was alive, even if she had been, and he’d done the calculations over and over in his head she would be almost 90 (she never would tell him how old she was, only gave him that half patronizing and half playful look that she was so good at). Steve would have bet his life her eyes would still hold that same intensity even wrinkled and frail. She would have been beautiful that way, of course in Steve’s imagination they had already grown old together. As it turns out neither of them grew old at all. 

“There is something I need to know.” Steve tried again. 

“Is it something I need to know?” Mr. Fury frowned at him. “Tony is a massive pain in the ass, but you’re going to need to work with him even in a limited capacity I should be aware of all potential issues.” 

“It’s personal. I guess you could call it ancient history.” Steve smiled even if Fury didn’t. You find humour where you could; living in a warzone would do that to you. “It can’t change anything, I just want to know.” 

“Tony Stark’s whole life is public domain, ask your tutor to speed up the Google part of your lessons.” 

Steve was left standing there confused as Fury stalked away to his office. He had heard of a Google, but he wasn’t sure how it was going to help him find out what he wanted to know. His hands curled into useless fists. There wasn’t anything quite as crushing in the world as feeling helpless. Here he’d thought that he couldn’t get any more off-kilter. 

Google as it turned out was _amazing_. It was like a filing system for the world, or that was how Adam (whose entire job was to make Steve computer literate) explained it to him. Anything you wanted information on, you input, like finding the right card at the library almost. Steve was convinced he was never going to understand it the computer they had given him was at once both a source of wonder and acute frustration. He asked Adam politely to know about Iron Man, Anthony Stark. 

Adam shrugged, and typed it into the keyboard, all the while talking fast about some youtube videos of Tony Stark and Tyra Banks that Steve _needed_ to see. Which meant nothing to Steve but Adam would do that occasionally, it made Steve feel impossibly old, well impossibly older, for all that Adam was in his mid-thirties and made Steve look like a fresh-faced kid. He pulled up a page on ‘Tony Stark’ and passed it over to Steve to read. Steve hated the mouse and the keyboard, as soon as he touched something it would change and he could never get it back without a lot of effort. It wasn’t very intuitive and required a lot of focus all at once. At least it was proving to be more than worth the effort. 

What he did manage to find out was that Tony’s mother was mostly listed as Maria Stark. The few pictures he could find of her hanging off of the arm of her husband showed a stunning blond woman with flawless skin and a small secretive smile. She was delicately boned with pronounced cheek bones and symmetry to her figure that gave it an artistic flare and an old world aristocratic feel. She also looked nothing at all like Tony. 

“Thank you.” Steve told Adam after the fourth screen just gave him the barest details about Maria. If these electronic news clippings were accurate Maria never had much of a life outside of her husband and his work. He found a photo of the three of them posing in front of something, Tony couldn’t have been older than eight or he was the only one not looking at the camera instead staring off to the side at something as Howard and Maria posed.

Wikipedia, which was usually the first link that popped up when he searched things listed a rumour that Maria wasn’t Tony’s real mother but the as no one could prove this it remained just that. 

~~

Steve hadn’t expected to find Tony in what he’d always amounted as a closet down on the IT levels of the tower. He had been looking for Adam for their lesson. The IT levels made him nervous, like at any minute he could flick the wrong switch or press the wrong key and the whole thing would simply self-destruct. 

“So, you’re like Captain America?” Steve couldn’t figure out what Tony meant by that so he answered the best he could, leaning against the doorframe in lieu of the fact that there were no chairs in the room. He was pleased to have run into him anyways; Tony wasn’t in the living quarters with the others and so Steve couldn’t find him to talk. Didn’t know how else to find out what he wanted to know. 

“Yes. I am.” 

Tony gave him a long appraising looking before he finally shrugged. “I guess you’re exactly what I imagined you’d be.” It wasn’t exactly dismissive, but it was close. Tony wasn’t wearing shoes and the edges of his jeans dragged along the floor, he wore a t-shirt with a button down shirt left open over top of it and goggles perched up in his nest of wild black hair.

Steve stiffened, Tony was all condescending with no warmth at all, Howard was always frustrated when others couldn’t keep up with him but he’d wanted to help. “Was there something I could do for you?” 

The argument had made the walls shake; Fury wasn’t going to let Tony take any of the Avengers work back to his own workshop. Tony was unimpressed with the facilities, ‘It’s like working with both hands ties behind my back, I can do amazing things with my tongue, but do you know how long it takes to draft with your tongue—ages.’ ‘You built the arc reactor in a cave, we have marginally better lighting.’ Everyone in the building knew about it, Tony had not been subtle in his displeasure at all. 

Tony shrugged, and turned back to the exposed underbelly of the massive block of electronics he was working on. An array of tools that could have been torture devices for all Steve understood were laid out next to him along with a cup of coffee that looked as though it had long since gone cold. The silence between them stretched out until it felt like it was going to snap from the sheer amount of awkward and Steve took a calming breath he could be the better man. He probably should have just left Tony too it but surrender wasn’t in his nature.

“What are you doing?” He tried to sound interested, and like Tony’s attitude didn’t bother him at all. 

Tony pulled a face at him. “It involves electricity and computers.” That hadn’t worked on Peggy either. He didn’t know if he should be glad or disappointed that their expressions were different. He settled for being annoyed. 

“You could try.” Steve pointed out crossing his arms defensively, calming breaths weren’t helping much. 

“And it wouldn’t help any.” Tony hummed, Steve pulled an annoyed face. “Don’t look at me like that, no one else in this building could understand it let alone you Mr. Freeze, holy popsicles Batman.” 

Most of that went right over his head, though he figured he should probably be insulted. “Did I do something to upset you?” 

“What?” Tony frowned at him. “No. This is just me, the real Tony Stark experience.” He flung his arms out, pulling the thin material of his t-shirt tight across the glowing circle embedded in his chest, the edges raised and obvious. The file on him told him that Tony needed or he would die pretty fast. Steve wasn’t really sure why it would kill him, but it was important to note all the same. “Deal with it or go home.” 

“Why are you so difficult?” It was out of his mouth before he knew it was what he was going to say. Peggy did that a lot to him, and he desperately wanted to connect with Tony, if only to ask him about Howard and Peggy. 

“Too much money, not enough hugs when I was a baby take your pick. If you’re going to get in the way-- leave. Or just leave, that works too. _Vamoosh_ , be gone.” Tony pulled his glasses down leaving his thick black hair standing all on end like he had been running his hands through it. 

Steve grit his teeth and left as Tony reached for his tools. 

~~ 

Things didn’t get easier between them. Tony was a paradox, he alternated between being overly helpful, and digging his heels and kicking up a fuss. It was like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to commit or not. That seemed to apply directly to Steve as well, he would say something and turn nasty on the wrong turn of a phrase from Steve. For the life of him Steve couldn’t figure out how he was upsetting Tony, only that it was just him. Tony got on with Thor and Bruce just fine, avoided Natasha and tolerated Clint. He would have just given up on Tony as a lost cause if he could have. Instead he found himself obsessing over it. 

Steve usually found a reason to be somewhere near where Tony was when he was in S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. It didn’t matter how many times Tony dismissed him, he just kept coming back. It had worked on Peggy and Bucky, he didn’t really know how else to make friends. Steve was standing on the other side of the cafeteria watching as Tony had his feet on the desk and was playing with a small touch screen. He seemed as if he was waiting for something; despite it being the canteen he didn’t have any food. It looked as good a tactical opening as any. 

“Are you hungry?” Steve sat across from him, Tony looked up from his screen. 

“I’m pretty sure the food here is made of radiation and saw dust.” Tony mumbled, looking faintly afraid of the idea. “I’ll grow a third leg or something useless. Then I would have to reconfigure the whole suit, and can you imagine it? No one would take me seriously. At all.” He paused thoughtfully, “a triple-base repulsor system would be quite stable do you think Iron Man needs a tail?” 

“I think that would make you Iron Cat.” A female voice cut in, Steve had seen her on the internet strawberry red hair and a tight smile. Mrs. Potts. For years they were rarely seen apart, and the rumours about them were wild and ranged from them having a secret child to Tony having actually built the first fully functional android to be his PA. 

“Cat? No, you’re wrong, Iron Panther, Iron Lion, no that one sounds dumb I don’t need a rhyming scheme, that makes me sound like a crazy person. Iron Lion. Is that it? Gimme, I’m dying.” Tony smiled at her, and Steve rarely saw Tony being anything but dismissive he was beaming at her, or at least the paper bag she was carrying. 

“Here you go Mr. Stark,” he reached for the paper bag it but she pulled it back, pushing some folders at him instead. “Apple documents first Tony.” 

“I told you, I don’t want to work with them. At all. None. Nothing. Make them go away.”

“I need your signatures on the paper work Tony, I told you that I already finished the contracts.” Steve watched at Tony shrugged, patted himself down and took the pen Mrs. Potts produced for him to sign with. 

“Have I told you recently you’re the greatest?” He blinked up at her, and Mrs. Potts gave him a bland look. “Of course I have, haven’t I? Well you are, there I will get a plaque for your desk ‘Pep Potts, the greatest’ I’ll get it made of gold. What do you think? You’re like the perfect lady they made on Weird Science, I couldn’t have coded you better myself.” 

“Will that be all Mr. Stark?” She arched an indulgent eyebrow at him the edges of her mouth tight like she was either displeased or trying not to smile. Steve didn’t really get women. 

“That will be all.” She placed the paper bag on the desk in front of him and collected the files. “Oh, Pep, meet Captain Steve Rogers.” 

“Like in the old cartoon?” She smiled at him, giving him a brisk once over her demeanour completely professional even if her shirt showed a little more of her chest than Steve was entirely comfortable with. 

“The one and the same.” She gave Tony a weird look but offered him a polite nod anyways. 

“Pleasure to meet you ma’am.” Steve said courteously. 

Tony snorted and they both chose to ignore him. Pepper’s smile warmed up a little, she clearly approved of him at least even if Tony didn’t. 

“It was nice to meet you. I must leave, I have a meeting to attend shortly.” Brisk and efficient she swayed on heels making a sharp tapping sound as he moved away. Just another of the modern world’s wonders. He hadn’t understood women of his time, let alone they ways they did things now. It was one of those things that Steve just accepted that he would never understand. 

“Want some? Not made of radiation, but it probably has more than a little sawdust. Who doesn’t like a little sawdust?” Tony dug into the bag and pulled out a wrapped burger and tossed it to Steve. “You don’t know how much you’d miss them.” 

Steve took one smiling at Tony gratefully, the wrapper proclaimed it was a Burger King hamburger and it was quite delicious. 

“How about a little entertainment with our meal, watch this.” Tony gave him a smirk, wiped his hand on the napkin, and began to tap rapidly on his screen. 

“What are you doing?” Steve said swallowing thickly. Tony was typing away and he could be doing anything. 

“Here, watch that TV over there.” The television was mounted on the wall of the small cafeteria and was showing a news channel with subtitles the news reader giving a blank look as they explained flooding in the south. The screen flipped, showing a Stark logo for a second, and then it dissolved into static and some trumpets played showing something else. 

Steve ate his hamburger trying not to choke on it as he watched the most ridiculous and blatantly untrue telling of his story. ‘Are you telling me you can’t jump over houses? Lies, all lies. You’re crushing my childhood here.’ At least he knew what Mrs. Potts meant when she said from the cartoon, but he wasn’t sure if he was flattered by that or not. 

“Oh man, I used to love this.” Tony mumbled around a mouth full of fries and ketchup.

~~

The call had come in during the evening. Steve had been in the gym working the bag and reviewing his lessons from the day (the idea of credit cards was ludicrous, why would you spend money you didn’t have for something so small as paying for gas?) Agent Coulson’s voice crackled to life over the intercom. ‘Avengers report to the ready room immediately.’ Steve had thought he was ready for anything, but he wasn’t quite ready for this.

It was a dinosaur an actual dinosaur, huge and angry. So far there was only the one, it threw back its head and unleashed a roar that shook the air around them like a concussive blast. One massive foot crashed to the ground where Natasha was standing only a moment ago as she tucked and rolled out of the way. She’d been trying to leap onto it without success. 

Hawkeye was on another assignment and they could have really used him right then, Steve flicked through the options blinding it was still the best option. Iron Man could have done it, but he wasn’t on-site when the call came in and without Hawkeye none of them were suited for the job. 

“Black Widow, I’ll distract it, get Hulk to toss you up.” 

“Got it.” Came her clipped answer. He could just see her moving on the edge of his vision, a black shadow moving quickly towards where Hulk was tossing debris at the monster and roaring back at it in primal rage. 

He swung the shield, letting it fly at the last moment, it curved through the air, cutting the air with a faint whistle along the trajectory he’d mapped out. It slammed into the side of the creature with a deep sound and it roared, turning on him, massive clawed feet digging up huge chunks of pavement as it pivoted on its haunches to face him. It turned faster than a creature that size should have physically been able too. Its tail was a huge meaty thing, and his shield was still off to the side where it had landed piercing the bonnet of a parked car. There wasn’t any time to prepare; he tried to grab it as it hit him high in the shoulders. 

The moment between standing on the ground and flying through the air was disorienting, it was like being slammed into by a semi. The impact with the wall was even worse leaving him dazed and in pain gasping for the breath that had been knocked out of him. It _had_ worked the dinosaur continued its turn, advancing on him with fetid breath. Only Steve wasn’t ready for it. 

“I’m pretty sure you’ve got the definition for extinct wrong.” Iron Man said, tiny missiles flew from his suit exploding like fire crackers around its face. With a mighty roar it swung towards him, and Iron Man was blasting some heavy guitar-line at shrieking levels that kept all attention entirely on him. Iron Man hovered in the air for a moment, blatantly ignoring the teeth heading right for him. 

Natasha landed perfectly, one long dagger right through the eye. She was thrown backwards when it jerked suddenly; curling into a ball in the air where Hulk plucked her up like she was a fly-ball. Tony hit its exposed throat with a blast from both his palms. The roar was cut short but it didn’t take the creature down. No, a telephone pole thrown like a javelin through its throat by The Hulk did that. 

It dropped with a wet gurgle, spraying hot blackish blood everywhere as it thrashed around taking out a whole row of parked cars with its tail. It took minutes for it to bleed out, whining the whole time. Iron Man landed next to him with a metallic clank once blood stopped flying, Steve was liberally coated in it as was the ground and the wall behind him. It was oily and slick, the temperature of taking a tepid bath. The smell was something else entirely and Steve gagged on it. 

“That’ll buff out.” Iron Man mumbled to himself, flipping the face plate so he could frown at a crushed car. “Totally.” 

“Thanks.” Steve said, getting to his feet, the world swayed alarmingly before it righted itself. He’d been hit worse; he just needed a few minutes. Tony frowned at him, or the mess covering him, Steve couldn’t be sure. 

“That’s what I’m here for. Last minute saves and witty one-liners.” 

Black Widow snorted over the comm., “work on it.” 

“That hurts you know.” Tony said, eyes still roving over the creature curiously. 

Steve smiled at him, and stopped quickly because his face was covered in blood and the taste was unholy. 

“Do you think we could make hamburgers out of it?” Tony asked no one in particular and Steve’s cheeks hurt from the effort of not being able to laugh. “Because I could turn a massive profit on this ‘Dino Burgers’, a bite of the Triassic with fries combo, can’t you see it?” 

Steve had cracked two ribs and his collar bone, Black Widow picked up his shield as they were collected, she came on the comm briefly to mention it in soft clipped words. Steve muttered a heartfelt thank you that Black Widow said nothing too. They tried to get him to lie down a stretcher, but he waved them away, his legs were fine. 

The serum meant that he was healing as he slept, bone knitting back together and bruises beginning to seep back into his skin. He went to sleep feeling every ache, and woke up stiff but feeling better overall. The sponge bath had been a little humiliating but was vastly preferable to being coated in dried gore for hours. The medical wing was beginning to feel a lot like home. 

He went over his own personal checklist starting at his toes and moving up through everything that could be injured. He’d suffered an incredibly painful knee-injury once it had felt like fire the entire time his body was pulling back together, for one heart-stopping moment he had thought that that was it, he couldn’t recover from that, it had hurt so much, but no. No, his knees felt fine, his ribs were tender when he breathed deep and his arm was firmly bound to his chest and the ache was deep with smaller flares when he tried to wiggle. 

Over all, he’d heal fast enough. Next time he’d remember to watch for the tail as well. Assume they ever ran into a t-rex again (a mix between yes and no, because property destruction and danger was never good, and a little yes because it was a _t-rex_ ). 

“Status?” Agent Coulson probably was alerted the moment he woke up. 

“I’ll be fine in a few weeks.” Steve smiled at him and Coulson nodded, Steve was quite sure that Coulson had the medical file on his desk hours ago; he was nothing if not the very definition of efficiency. Still, it was nice that Coulson came to check for himself. Steve could understand that, he’d had enough of his commandos wounded to know that being told something and seeing it with your own eyes was a world apart. 

“All right Captain Rogers, you’re off active duty for the next month.”

“Sir.” Steve said smartly. Couslon gave him another once over, eyes flicking quick and assessing. Steve found himself stopping him before he could leave the room. “If I may ask, Iron Man-- Tony-- was it his decision to not be on the initiative?” Things could have been a lot worse if he hadn’t shown up when he did. 

“His psych evaluation led the Director to believe that this was the best course of action.” Coulson said stiffly, Tony treated Coulson with barely veiled contempt for some unknown past transgression and their relationship was antagonistic at best and outright hostile at worst. With that he left Steve alone with that comment bouncing around in his head. He had lived right on the front line with men under the most pressing psychological situations on the planet. He couldn’t imagine what Tony had done to give them that impression. 

~~ 

As it turned out, lots of things. Google was _amazing_ , and when it came to Tony slightly horrifying. 

“You destroyed your house in California in a drunken fight _in the suit_?” Steve wasn’t sure he should even believe that. He was back on his feet the day after the injury and just kept his arm bound tight to his chest, a week later he was bored. Tony was sitting in a massive room filled with servers, surrounded by tablets which he seemed to pick up and put down at random. Google had told him about the incident, and provided a photo of Iron Man sitting in a doughnut giving the photographer a peace sign. The most popular clip (next to something candid involving Tyra Banks that Steve only watched _once_ ) was Tony in a conference, for a while he was talking, finally he simply looked out over the crowd and said ‘I am Iron Man’. Tony was possibly crazy.

“It was a really bad day.” Tony frowned at him. He put down the one tablet computer and picked up another, it was scrolling pale blue symbols down the screen rapidly. Tony was completely silent as he followed them. Steve sat in the only chair and watched Tony. 

When he was quiet Steve thought of Peggy, because Tony was the only person on the planet loud enough all by himself to drown out the tidal wave of emotions. Only Tony could be Tony that aggressively. 

“You have bad days; I have bad days with billion dollar suits.” Tony mumbled. He was completely still if it were not the flicking of his eyes as he read. When he did move it was sudden, going into a tapping flurry on the screen before stopping again. He was like one of those wading birds fishing. 

“Help me understand, you had a bad day, so you got drunk in the Iron Man suit?” _‘ was the best course of action’_. Maybe they were right about him-- volatile. Tony sighed looking up at him through his lashes. 

“Is there any reason you’re bothering me? I’m actually working for once. See? This is me being busy, I don’t sit on the floor poking into god-awful firewall coding for the fun of it. I’m not into that kind of thing, I mean if you are that’s cool, different strokes for different folks and all that.” Tony looked up at him. “Got to say, didn’t see it coming, you coming from before computers and all that.” 

“You’re part of the team.” Steve said confidently. That seemed to throw Tony, whatever he was about to say visibly died. “You’re rarely on site; I thought it would be a good time to get to know you better.” 

“I’m not.” Tony shrugged his shoulders. His eyes were really big and brown; it wasn’t something Steve had really bothered to notice before not after he realized that looking at them reminded him of Peggy too strongly to make it entirely comfortable. “I’m not part of the team, part time at most; I don’t even get the dental plan.” 

“You’re willing to stand with me in a fight; you’re part of my team.” Steve felt confident in that answer, even if Tony was a little crazy he had proved he could be useful and Steve was from a time where being useful was the mettle of a man. 

“Sorry Cap, I don’t do teams-- not in little league and not now.” He put down the tablet and began to poke at it. 

Steve watched him for a little longer, while Tony ignored him, end of discussion. Back to the beginning problem, why was Tony always so difficult? It was like he did it on purpose. Steve was trying his best but he got fed up with Tony’s attitude so quickly. It was like Tony had searched and found the key to breaking Steve’s patience with a single turn of a phrase. It had to take effort to be that irritating.

“You’re already part of the team Iron Man.” 

“I’m pretty sure that is something that they give you a choice in. You can’t just make me part of your team.”

Steve thought of that first mission, the long walk back to camp, bruises and battered, and in Bucky’s case tortured and happier than Steve had ever seen him. He didn’t know the names of all the men he led that day. Remembers the tactical decision to leave getting out to them, instant recognition of a fellow soul. Those men didn’t want to die and they would do anything for the chance at freedom. They had been a team, it wasn’t a choice, it just was. 

“It’s really not Tony. Not for the teams that really matter.” 

“You sound like a Hallmark card.” 

Steve could only assume that it was an insult, but it lacked in venom, so even if it was an insult Tony didn’t really mean it. Steve wasn’t sure if this was really a fight, but he was counting it as a win. He used to do that with Peggy, count each half-smile as a point; that time she shot at him was minus five maybe ten, it’s hard to say because she’d been smiling with her eyes at the same time. 

“I wanted to say thank you, for helping with the creature.” Steve said after the silence settled long enough to get awkward.

“It was a dinosaur, granted one of unusual size but all the same, call it what it was.” 

~~

“Yes Steve?” Thor had the most peculiar way of saying his name. It didn’t sound awkward, but there was just something about the God of Thunder saying something so common as ‘Steve’ it just felt wrong. He couldn’t have Thor calling him Captain Rogers when he was in his sweats lying on the floor where Thor flipped him moments ago. Their sparring matches where something of legend around the treadmills and ellipticals. Steve had never met anyone aside from the Red Skull himself that was physically a match for him. 

Thor pushed him in ways that he couldn’t get fighting anyone else. Thor always seemed to find it fun when their careful sparring would devolve into an all and out brawl with them wrestling on the floor for the sheer joy of stretching their muscles and trying to childishly one-up each other. ‘My brother refused to admit he enjoyed that part, he is quite slippery’ Thor told him once and Steve could never come to grips with the idea that Thor loved their enemy with his whole heart. Steve didn’t have any family, what could he understand? Except for the part where he could, if Bucky turned up as the next super villain Steve would be the happiest man on the planet. He tried not to think about it much. 

Now they were sitting the common room that had slowly become the unofficial Avengers meeting spot since they couldn’t spar while Steve was injured. Thor was sitting cross-legged taking up most of the couch watching television, massive flannel shirt struggling to fit his shoulders and looking deceptively normal. He’d just come back from a trip, ‘I wish to show Jane the Midgard I remember, the site of many a memorable battle.” At first none of them had known what Thor was going on about until he showed up with two plane tickets to Oslo and a lot of things made a lot more sense. 

“How was your trip?” 

“It was most enjoyable. Jane doesn’t appreciate the cold. I had to warm her up.” Steve flushed a little, and Thor gave him a sly grin. (Tony had spent way to long trying to explain the term ‘the internet is for porn’ and now Steve gets a little stuck on it from time to time). 

“That’s... great.” Steve smiled, “really.” 

“It is fortunate that you fought bravely against the prehistoric lizard in my absence.” Steve smiled at him. “I am sorry I missed such a grand fight. You earned your wounds.” Thor gave a slow nod at Steve’s shoulder. It was almost entirely healed now, but they wouldn’t put him on active duty for another week yet. 

“I didn’t duck fast enough.” Steve laughed and Thor nodded sagely. Sometimes you just don’t duck that last embarrassing punch. Thor grinned at him, he got it. 

“I wish I could have seen this giant lizard.” Steve believed him, Thor would have loved it. Mass destruction and violence appealed to him on a base level. It wasn’t the same mindless sort of chaos-wreaking as his brother, but he did love violence while it was in the defence of others, or just a spot of harmless fun. Steve was beginning to understand Thor a little more; he’d defined himself by his ability on the battle field. 

“You’d have loved it.” S.H.I.E.L.D was still investigating where the creature had come from. The go-to response seemed to be ‘Loki did it’ but normally he would show up to watch his plans follow through, or more usually crash and burn into the end of Thor’s hammer. Without being able to say where it came from it was difficult to say if there would be a similar attack, or if this was a one-time thing. “About our missions.” 

“My father continues to support my inclusion here.” Steve didn’t even want to imagine the political situation. Thor was a prince, and yet, here he was sipping coffee and watching the discovery channel, his long blond hair tangled into a lion’s mane around his rugged and unshaven face. If Steve wasn’t completely past the point where he was struck by how weird his life was; this would probably be it. Or back when Tony was giggling until he cried about making JARVIS sound like Donald Duck. 

“Good. What I wanted to ask you about was what you thought of Iron Man,” Steve couldn’t stop the words from stumbling a little. “As a member of the team, in combat, you know. Tactically.” He hoped that he didn’t sound as horribly awkward out loud as he did in his head. It was probably worse. 

“I see.” Thor stared at the window in silence pulling his thoughts together; it gave Steve a chance to wonder what he was doing really. Tony had given him his opinion on being a full-time member of the team but Steve didn’t want to accept it. “Iron Man’s ability to take to the sky as the birds do is a valuable asset. He’s better able to assess the situation and act accordingly than I can while in flight. Son of Fury does not approve of Tony.”

“I’ve noticed that.” Steve said and Thor laughed, even his chuckles were loud. 

“The Black Widow doesn’t get along with him.” Thor continued, looking pensive. 

“You?” That could go any way, Tony wasn’t an easy man to like. 

“He seems to be a man with a good heart, even if he insists on hiding it.” Thor said diplomatically. “He fights bravely and has many tales which do his bloodline proud.” 

~~

“Agent Barton.” 

Clint and Natasha spent a lot of time off base doing missions that Steve wasn’t privy too, it was a rare moment catch Clint when he was just sort of sitting in the common room, curled around a pillow and watching game shows on television. It was nice talking to Thor who was usually around, Thor was happy when he got to see Jane and was content with slowly trying to understand the modern world through popular television. Clint on the other hand was completely at ease with himself, and Steve relished any opportunity to talk to him. Clint had warmed up to him over time, he wasn’t the most open person, but he wasn’t so hostile anymore. 

“Take a seat.” One of those foldable computers balanced on his knee and he was tapping at it irritably. “Is there something I can do for you Cap?” Steve sat down on the smaller couch, so that he could watch Clint and the television at the same time. 

“I wanted to get your opinion on Iron Man.” Clint didn’t look surprised at all, but it took a lot to throw him at all, Steve figured even if he did he wouldn’t know it. Clint was a better agent than that. Natasha hid behind a blank mask, Clint hid behind an easy smile. 

“Tony Stark is a massive dick.” He said it with complete and utter conviction and without an ounce of hesitation. 

Steve couldn’t help the little choke of laughter, he would give Clint that; Tony could be a bit difficult to get along with. 

“Tactically?” 

“As much as it pains me to say anything nice about Tony, he’s a capable soldier when he wants to be. He’s just not always in his A-game. Why, has Stark finally lost it and done something inexcusable? If he’s out I want one of the X-men, I hear Jean Grey is pretty hot.” 

“No, Tony’s fine, we’re a new team and I’m working out the dynamics. As much as he doesn’t want to be he’s part of the team.” It sounded a little more believable every time he said it. He parachuted into a German facility all alone for Bucky, on the grand scale of things this really shouldn’t be awkward at all. Only Tony wasn’t Bucky, he was a lot more taciturn, and he wasn’t Peggy or Howard either. 

“I don’t think it’s that he doesn’t want to, I just don’t think he’s capable. He’s stubborn and resentful of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Clint tapped the space bare several times in irritation. 

“Do you know why?” It was an important point, one he’d been trying to get to the bottom of for awhile, but Fury wasn’t available for heart to hearts and Coulson made faces whenever Steve brought up Tony. 

“His Daddy helped build S.H.I.E.L.D., was one of the founding members. Tony doesn’t like anything that reminds him of the old Stark. His issues are so textbook that he’s re-written the whole thing.”

Steve didn’t understand, Howard was a nice man. Peggy and him, Steve was sure that their fondue was... good. It still ached a little that there wasn’t anyone alive who got that inside joke. Tony didn’t like any mention of his parents, it made it impossible for Steve to ask the questions that he really wanted too without destroying the fragile sort of peace he’d brokered with Tony. 

~~

Steve liked Dr. Banner, he liked him a lot. He was quiet and usually patient with Steve when he didn’t understand things, which was almost all the time since science had moved on at light speed. Everything he thought he knew about the world had been researched and then turned on its head at least twice. Sometimes it was hard to tell if Bruce liked him or his DNA more. DNA itself was such a massive concept that it took Steve forever to even conceptualize it properly while Bruce slowly explained how Steve was built and a few quirks of his enhanced body. 

Walking into his wing of the science department was like walking into a science-fiction novel. There were all sorts of humming or whirling machines glimpsed through doors and some with big neon stickers shouting hazard warnings. The one for Banner’s personal lab had the whole gambit, a radiation sign, biological hazards sign, it was enough to make you nervous. Still he couldn’t stay away he read books on the basic principles of biology and chemistry and came back for more.

The lab was massive sprawling all the way down and filled with a number of computerized instruments and more stereotypical looking mad-sciences wear. Banner moved between them all efficiently, clearly in his element. Steve never felt like he stood out more, a relic trying to blend with all the cutting edge. Science had been in its infant steps in his time; Dr. Erskine had been a savant of his field. 

“Are you busy?” Steve propped himself up on a tall stool next to a book Banner had just abandoned, the pen still lying across the page. The writing was tiny and cramped and no blank spaces were left, nothing but meticulous notes. 

“Always.” Banner said back with a faint smile. “But I do have some time.” 

“Thanks, I’ll be quick.” 

There was something set up on the far corner that looked like a massive glass tube with a smaller glass tube trapped in it, the whole thing was suspended over a beaker on a mini-stove. Steve couldn’t even begin to guess its purpose. Still it gave him something to look at besides Banner with his sleeves pushed up, blue gloves covering his hands and looking rumpled like he might have been sleeping in here again. A habit Coulson disapproved of, but lacked the resolve to try and enforce. S.H.I.E.L.D tended to handle Bruce with kid-gloves but he seemed to dislike them almost as much as Tony did so Steve couldn’t really blame them.

“I just want your impression of the team, and specifically Iron Man.” Banner blinked at him for a moment. 

“I’m not really in a place to say anything about our team in combat.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t have a lot of control over it. He seems to get along fine with Iron Man.” 

“Anything more?” It wasn’t exactly a glowing review, it wasn’t really anything. 

“Not really. Tony is a bit weird, but he’s very smart and he’s very rich. It doesn’t lead to a normal sort of man.” If anyone would know about the pitfalls of genius it would be Dr. Banner. 

“Thanks.” 

“Sorry I couldn’t be more help.” He wasn’t really, poking at something as it started to beep, pulling his goggles back down over his eyes and moving over to the set-up of glass. Conversation over. 

~~

“If this is about Stark, I was the one who wrote the report that recommended against him being on the initiative.” Natasha told him before he could fully get the words out. 

“Oh.”

“You’ve asked everyone else.” Natasha said simply and Steve nodded. Right, of course. Natasha continued to stare at him, startlingly green eyes framed in a pale face. Steve felt his spine go stiff, automatically shifting his stance to at rest. She made him nervous. Not only was she the most beautiful woman he had ever seen (like she walked right out of a fashion show) but she was dangerous and prone to violence. He’d seen men like that, who were in the war to sate their bloodlust, like they had simply let go of the part of them that made killing wrong. 

“Tony is irresponsible and unstable.” She said simply. “The tactical advantage the Iron Man suit offers doesn’t outweigh the drawbacks of his personality. It’s all in the report.” 

“Have you given him a chance?” Steve startled himself when he spoke; Natasha arched one prim eyebrow at him. 

“I didn’t believe that was the optimal course of action.” 

Steve tried to find a counter argument but Natasha was right, all of Tony’s behaviour pointed towards him being the irresponsible and a possible danger. There wasn’t a logical argument, only the gut feeling of understanding soldiers honed on the battlefield. Tony wasn’t the type of man who shrank under adversary, he thrived until he could crush it. If they could provide that for him it should help stabilize his behaviour. 

“You’ve been watching him.” Natasha remarked and Steve fought back a flush. She was right of course, but Steve hadn’t known that anyone else noticed. 

“I knew his father.” It was the closest to the truth he could explain in words. “He reminds me of him.” Natasha’s eyes softened a little, something barely there flickering in her expression. There wasn’t any way to explain how desperately he wanted a connection to Stark, to dig into his past and live through him. Not without it sounding weird. 

“Don’t let it cloud your judgement. Tony Stark is dangerous when things don’t go his way.” 

~~

Steve had to admit that Tony had his flaws, but to expect perfection in people was a mistake. It didn’t matter how smart you were, Banner was a good example, or how talented like Barton, or even am immortal god like Thor everyone had flaws. Steve himself, the super human, he had his own errors. His own demons. 

He was aware this was beginning to get out of hand. He’d mastered the Google. Almost entirely on his search for information on Tony’s life. Fury had been right, pretty much everything Tony had ever done was available to him through the internet. If asked about it there wasn’t anything he could say. There wasn’t any sort of reasonable explanation for his behaviour. 

“I’m beginning to think you’re following me.” Tony was again sitting on the floor, this time he was surrounded by massive sheets of blue paper, what looked like layouts drafted onto each one and Tony at the epicentre pen stuck behind his ear. Only the eye of the storm wasn’t calm in the least. 

“I’ve been living in this building for months now; you’re the only interesting thing around.” Steve confessed. Tony gave him an amused smirk. 

“Well, as the most interesting man in the world, I don’t always drink beer, but when I do—wait you’re not going to get this reference, never mind that.” Tony made an abortive hand gesture like he could take the words back. “Wait, do you like, go outside and stuff? There is lots to see outside, we’re dead centre in one of the biggest megacities on the planet. More to see than can ever be seen, in fact there is a gentleman’s club _just_ down the block.”

Steve stood up a little straighter stomach tightening with nerves, he had always been the one to do what needed to be done; he wasn’t a coward by any stretch of the word. Just, outside was a lot to deal with at once and he would rather not if he didn’t have too even now. This wasn’t going away to war because that had never been a question; it had been the right thing to do. This was the modern world with all its millions of people and the city of flashing lights, and he didn’t really need to go out there. 

“You don’t do you?” Tony looked up at him, mouth quirked a little to one side. 

“I go on missions.” He defended himself. 

“That doesn’t count, missions are missions and outside there are hot dogs and cheeseburgers and toy stores and strippers. Missions don’t have those. Pepper made sure of it, stripper poles were strictly non-regulation but it’s _my_ jet.” Tony was quiet for a moment. “Let’s go get lunch.” 

“You’re busy.” Steve laughed and Tony pulled a face at him. 

“My time is so expensive I’m the only one who can afford it.” With a sniff Tony uncurled himself from the floor. His trousers were covered in dust; the arc reactor glowed faintly through the cotton of his shirt, winking at him. Steve wanted to trace the perfect circle with his fingers because he could never draw anything that completely round. “Fury just took out a loan on me. Let’s go.”

Steve wasn’t sure he was allowed outside, he hadn’t tried to leave before but no one stopped them and for that Steve was glad. 

Cars were different, boxy bulky shapes giving way to sleek metallic monsters. Tony’s was cherry red and had more curves than a pin-up. It was obscene and sexual the way the cars of his time weren’t or maybe that was just the way Tony stroked her doors and the steering wheel absently when they were stopped at a red light. This was one change he wasn’t sure if he missed or not. Cars also went a lot slower in his time, it at least felt safer. 

“Driving in New York is a pain.” Tony said loudly, looking annoyed at they pulled up to another red light. “It sucks all the fun out of it. All of it. None left, just soul sucking and traffic lights.” 

“Where are we going?” Steve asked, trying not to gawk too obviously. 

“Dunno, JARVIS, where am I going?” 

Steve stared at Tony’s profile (the sun glasses cut sharply across his cheeks) unsure of what was going on. 

“Anything in particular you’re looking for sir?” 

“Hotdogs!” 

“Right away sir.” 

“Does everyone’s car talk?” Steve hesitated to ask, because if there was one thing watching Tony Stark on YouTube taught him, it was that Tony wasn’t the typical American. 

“JARVIS’ AI is linked to my phone by satellite, but now that you mention it, I could _build_ Kit, how cool would that be.” Steve couldn’t answer; he had no idea what Tony was talking about. “Of course, you wouldn’t know, just take my word for it.” 

“Okay.” Steve shrugged. 

“... Really?” Tony grinned at him, and it seemed distinctly unkind. Steve mentally made a note to look up ‘Kit’ later. Talking with Tony always leads to marathon session on the Wikipedia, one thing always leads to another and another until it seemed like he had spent hours just soaking up information. “You’d be the only one. Pepper doesn’t even listen to me half the time and I pay her to.” 

Steve just grinned at him, and Tony counted the beats until the light turned green with a rhythmic tapping on the wheel, humming something Steve had no hope of recognizing. The hot dogs came from a man in a truck converted into some sort of mobile restaurant and Steve was dubious but Tony was all over. Steve ended up eating eight of them while the man watched astonished. 

~~

“Every time I remember that Clint is a vegetarian I get hungry, it’s interfering with my work. I vote him off the island.” 

Steve smiled to himself as Tony poked his head into the gym to address him. It seemed that after a few false starts he’d managed to capture Tony’s attention enough to hold actual conversations. Tony hadn’t made it easy for him, swanning about drumming on the walls and ignoring Fury with a pathological intensity. 

“I want a something full of meat, I feel like I’m eating for two.” 

Steve just sort of smiled at him, hitting the punching bag again. He hadn’t meant to imagine what Peggy had looked like all round and pregnant with Tony. He still hadn’t asked Tony about it, the other man was skittish about anything remotely personal, but that didn’t mean the question wasn’t always on the tip of his tongue. There was still the possibility that he was wrong, and he couldn’t decide if that would be better or worse after all this. 

Would she have glowed? Running her hands along the tight skin of her stomach and feeling Tony kick? How many times in the dead of the night in Europe when it was cold and people were dying left and right had he used that image to keep him going. Innocently imagining their future life together.

“Woah tiger.” Tony said with a wide smile when the punching bag swayed alarmingly. Tony stepped into the room properly, looking curious. Today he wore a printed t-shirt under a jacket and jeans, his hair a dark wild mess. Steve grabbed the bag stilling it. 

“Wouldn’t be the first one I broke.” He always felt a little bad about that, just sometimes he would lose himself in the rhythmic impact of his fists on the bag and there was nothing but the burn of his lungs drawing in more air and suddenly the weight of the bag would give way under his fist and he was left standing there the bag spilling sand all over the floor. 

“What are the extents of your physical strength?” 

“It’s hard to tell, S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn’t been able to measure it accurately.” It wasn’t for a lack of trying and Steve didn’t mind too much. The key to the serum is somewhere inside him surely, only every time they think they have a value just a little more focus is all he needed to push himself harder. It frustrated Tracey from the medical division, she was a nice lady and always talked about her own kids while taking Steve’s vitals. Steve felt a little bad about that too. 

“Huh. Well I guess we can’t all be super human.” Tony sniffed a little. Steve would beg to differ; Tony was like Howard, in his own way so far beyond what normal people could imagine. Howard was always so aggravated because his ideas were too big for the time too grand to imagine. Tony was every bit the same, single handily trying the change the world, if that wasn’t superhuman Steve didn’t know what was. 

“I was made this way.” Steve shrugged, “none of it would have worked without Howard.” 

As always the mention made Tony’s face go tight, but he didn’t flee instead he just shrugged like he was trying to be fluid and let it all roll off of him. “I know. He talked about you.” 

“He did?” Steve froze, emotion welled up fast and hard, like poking a dark bruise, sometimes it wasn’t so sharp, just a dull ache, but then he would remember it was there and the pain was bright hot and impossible to ignore. 

“The war, it haunted him I think.” Tony shrugged, smiling wide in an unfriendly way. “Ask Fury, they were apparently BFFs, he was just my dad.” 

“Thank you.” 

Tony looked stunned, then a little confused. “For what?” 

“I don’t have anything of them left, at all.” _Except you._ The epiphany hurt something sharp, but at least it helped clear up some of the questions he’s had about why he’s fascinated by Tony. He knew enough about Tony by this point to know that Tony wouldn’t have anything charitable to say about that. 

Now Tony was looking desperately uncomfortable. “That’s ... not good? Not good. Right. Food. Meat, I need meat, um.” 

“Sorry, I have a meeting with Black Widow soon.” Steve replied. It hurt a little how relieved Tony looked.

“Right.” Tony smiled at him, and was gone. 

Steve hit the bag, pulling his punches so he didn’t break it, but it didn’t calm his thoughts any. When Bucky died Peggy had told him to respect his choices. Time wasn’t a choice anyone made and still Steve lost it all. So much potential, he hadn’t been given access to the full report on Peggy’s death (MI6 was close lipped), had he been there could he have helped? 

She was a capable agent but everyone needed someone they can trust at their back. Steve wanted to know everything. 

Steve stopped crying long before his meeting with Natasha, he was a grown man after all. He couldn’t get the image of her pregnant with Tony out of his head, only it was amazing because she was amazing, and that was Tony there growing in her womb. 

~~ 

“After the war Howard wanted to build something that could stand up to supernatural forces.” Fury said, he was sitting at his desk and Steve was flicking through some old faded photographs of Howard when he was young, older than Steve remembered him, but younger than the photos on the internet. “What happened with you and Hydra made him realize that his weapons were not enough. That’s what he told me when I took the job of director.” 

Fury didn’t smile, Steve wondered if he was even capable of it. 

“We keep the balance of the world and protect the world from the threats that go above and beyond the ordinary. Basically we keep tabs on the mutant rights movements and advanced tech.”

“Like the Iron Man suit.” Steve said, finally understanding a little more. 

“Stark’s suit posed a threat; out of respect to his father we handled the situation before it could get too wildly out of hand.” Something clenched hard in Steve’s stomach, if the Avenger’s Initiative was anything to go by, when S.H.I.E.L.D. handled things it wasn’t with a gentle hand. “Still he destroyed the Stark expo site, Tony’s Malibu home, the Monaco Grand Prix, and took out two blocks and an overpass in Los Angeles as well as his own reactor and associated research division.” 

“Ah.” Ouch. Steve had read about a few of those incidents. 

“It was one of Howard’s expeditions that found you.” Fury continued, sitting back, looking through Steve. “He never stopped looking for the plane.” He owed so much to Howard, and Fury for keeping up the effort long after Howard was dead. He could almost see why almost everyone seems to think that Tony is more trouble than he is worth; Fury did it for Howard. 

“Howard was a good man.” Crazy as they come, but good at heart.

“When he wanted to be. He still built weapons.” 

In Steve’s time that had been a good thing, everything for the win. Peace was something that took a little time to figure out. 

“He helped me when he didn’t need too, and he was an amazing pilot.” Steve didn’t want to forget them the way they were and it was hard to correlate with the way people remembered them after. Fury gave him a squinty look, like he was trying to understand something. Steve got that look from a lot of different people. 

“You do know that Tony Stark is nothing like Howard Stark.” Fury’s gaze was level and assessing. 

Steve had to disagree. “I want him on more missions.” 

“Stark doesn’t want to be on more missions.” 

“...Have you asked him?” 

Fury just blinked at him, as if this was somehow not a reasonable question. Steve flushed a little; it was just a valid suggestion. 

“He’s valuable to the team in terms of recognisance and air support. Thor doesn’t have the sensor capability that Ironman does.” 

“We’ve considered that.” Fury said evenly. “Stark is unpredictable and potentially dangerous. He can’t be trusted on the team full time. Which is why we have hired him on as a consultant.” 

“For his father.” The words rang a little hollow. Steve hadn’t been able to get very close to Tony, but he knew he would hate that. 

“A promise is a promise.” Fury said evenly. 

“If he finds out, he’s going to hate you.” 

“I never wanted Tony Stark’s love. Not even once. I’m not going to weep any tears – as long as he stops blowing shit up and making a scene. Focus on your team Captain.”

“Sir.” Steve said smartly, knowing a dismissal when he saw one. Still, he refused to move. 

“Yes Captain?” Fury could arch his eyebrow perfectly, managing to convey a whole set of emotions without needing to move anything else. Still, Steve was stubborn. 

“What is Tony’s problem with Howard?” 

“That is a whole lot of none of my fucking business, and all the shrinks in all of LA would probably take years to work through his issues.”

“Thank you.” Steve left, he had few more questions, and not many more answers but that was okay. 

~~

“Aren’t you a vegetarian?” Steve asked, watching Clint tuck into a huge sandwich made seemly almost entirely out of all the sliced meat in the fridge some mayo and a single sad piece of lettuce. 

“Nah.” Clint used his thumb to rub a smudge of sauce from the corner of his lip. “I just say that because it freaks the fuck out of Stark.” Steve opened and closed his mouth a few times in confused. Clint chuckled low and amused. “I don’t know what he has against vegetarians, but it’s more than worth it to watch his face.” 

“He says it makes him hungry.” Steve said, watching as Clint took the next bite with a vicious relish. He couldn’t help the small smile. 

“I hope he gets fat.” Clint said viciously. “Capitalist neo-libertine _massive prick_.” 

“What has Tony done to you?” It was a little above the usual level of antagonism. Only a tad, but still more than the usual. 

“Have you _met_ him? Short, dark hair, massive god complex. Refers to himself in the third person as The Phoenix.” 

“He does what?” Steve blinked at that, but could in fact totally see it. 

“Have you never listen to him talk to that bloody robot thing of his? Can you imagine making something for the sole purpose of listening to you talk? How ridiculous do you need to be?” 

Or how lonely? 

“JARVIS seems to know what he’s doing.” Steve said, at the very least JARVIS knew where to get a good meal when out on the town. Steve had heard JARVIS several times in combat, he wasn’t sure what to make of Tony’s reliance on him/it in those situations. What if there was a loss of power? Could the suit function without JARVIS?

“JARVIS isn’t real, it’s fucking creepy is what he is. Like a figment of Tony’s imagination come to life or something surreal like that. Christ, what if Tony makes Skynet—he totally would.”

“I’m not really sure what you’re talking about now.” It was easier to flat out admit when he didn’t know rather than to try and pretend. 

“Skynet is a super freaky AI that gets really smart and decides that the world is better off without people and so it builds robots to kill everyone and sends one back into the past to kill the mother of the future head of human resistance.” Clint said it so earnestly that Steve was tempted to believe him. Time travel wasn’t all that much weirder than the soap opera between Thor and Loki that played out in smashed buildings and the most epic sulking fits. 

If it were a real threat Steve liked to think he’d be briefed about it. 

“This is from a movie.” He sounded almost confident, only the smallest of inflections on the last bit to give away his doubt. Clint gave him a pitiful look. 

“I remember the days when you used to believe everything I said. I blame your corruption on Tony. Also, the internet.” 

“I’m sure Steve soils himself with the devious depths of the net every night.” Natasha said, completely bland and it _isn’t true_ but his ears flame anyways at the insinuation. It wasn’t like he wasn’t aware of the other uses for the internet. In his search for Tony he’d uncovered, well, a lot more of Tony than he thought was ‘public domain’. 

“I do not.” The protest is token, they wouldn’t believe him either way.

“Give him half a chance and Tony Stark will soil himself all over you.” Natasha said and Clint wiggled his eyebrows at her. 

“Is that what happened when you were under cover as his assistant?” Clint made a crude kind of hand gesture. 

“How many innuendos can you fit in one sentence?” Natasha arched an eyebrow at him, reaching past him to the jar of peanut butter on the lowest shelf. 

“How many philosophers does it take to screw in a light bulb?” Clint said back. As usual they could be talking in code, but chances were they were just talking shit. Natasha snorted, it wasn’t lady-like, but little of what she did was ‘lady-like’. 

“Depends if the light bulb is your dick.” Natasha was only crude when Clint was around. When it was just Steve she was usually polite enough (much to his relief, he didn’t know if he could deal with that), but the two of them fought like cats and dogs. They both looked viciously satisfied with it. Steve wasn’t entirely sure what any of that meant, either they hated or loved each other; that or that had worked together long enough to wear away at each other’s sharp edges until they fit into the groves left over. He didn’t worry about them in combat; they were both trained, and seemed to have an intimate grasp of each other’s movements on the field. They were a priceless pair. 

“It’s _illuminating_.” Clint shot back, miming the twang of a bowstring going off.

“Laughing? Who did you assassinate this time?” Tony frowned, he was leaning against the door, legs crossed at the ankles and sunglasses in place despite the fact that they were indoors and it was cloudy outside. 

“Classified.” Natasha smirked at him and Tony sort of snapped his teeth back at her; but he didn’t make a single move to get closer to her. 

“But we’re working our way up to this nosy ex-weapons genius.” Clint answered. Tony looked over the rim of his glasses at them. 

“I’ve got my _eye_ on you.” Tony replied in a faux-rough voice, Clint cracked up laughing and Natasha looked like she was trying hard not to. “Fury.” Tony said to him and right, that made a lot of sense. Steve smiled at him and Tony quirked his mouth back. 

“Was there something you needed Mr. Stark.” Natasha raised her eyebrows at him, and Tony pulled an irritated look. 

“Don’t do that, it creeps me out. Gives me the shivers. I’m here for,” Tony looked around, eyeing the remainder of Clint’s sandwich for a moment before sort of meeting Steve’s eyes. “Steve.” 

“Steve?” Natasha stared at him, and Tony sort of flinched away from her look. 

“Yes. Captain Rogers, walk with me.” Steve shrugged, there was a chance that if he followed Tony that Tony would bring him out for food. Tony knew were to get the best food around, and it beat the canteen food any day; he was beginning to think that Tony’s initial assessment of radiation and sawdust might not be that far from the truth. Anyone who spent any time on the front lines knew the value of a good hot meal. 

“What did you need Tony?” 

Tony looked at him sideways. “To get away from Natasha, she’s like a robot, I bet she has eye-lasers. If I could just get close enough I could reverse engineer it.” 

“Oh.” Still if Steve followed him long enough there was still a high probability Tony would find him food. He wasn’t sure why Natasha hated Tony, and Tony would go out of his way to avoid getting close to her. “What’s Skynet?” 

Tony pushed his glasses into his hair and gave him a blinding grin that seemed way out of proportion to the question. “ _Oh Steve_.” 

~~ 

“I’ll be back.” Tony said, voice fake low over the intercom, it was unprofessional but Steve snorted back. 

There had been creature sightings in Newark and so there they were. Giant lizards sounded familiar. Thor was sort of bouncing on his toes, but in a more regal fashion, princely bouncing on his toes in anticipation. 

“Can they be tamed?” Thor said, eyes shining.

“I don’t think so?” Steve had no idea. He’d convinced Tony to go on this op with the sightings of the giant lizards; he’d been gleeful as a child at Christmas. The entire trip under the river had been one long argument about how Tony was not the terminator (android versus cyborg versus technologically enhanced super prosthesis). JARVIS wouldn’t decide to take over the world. ‘Still fucking creepy.’ ‘He can hear you.’ ‘That is correct Agent Barton, I am always patched into communications.’ Steve had a burst of inappropriate laughter at the look on Clint’s face. 

“Heat scanners are not picking up anything unusual. There is a couple having sex a few doors down from your current position. Missionary style, an oldie but a goodie.” 

“Iron Man.” Steve said sharply and Tony laughed. 

“Just kidding.” Only with Tony it was pretty impossible to tell. 

“Nothing?” Steve asked, there was silence for a bit, Tony doing whatever Tony did in the suit. He’d caught enough half muttered phrases to think Tony was talking to himself, only to realize that Tony was talking to JARVIS. 

“Nothing reading out of the usual.” Tony replied turning a smart answer into something that made him sound bored. 

They were let out onto the twilight street. Civilians hadn’t been evacuated, code amber still no immediate threat of destruction and potential threat to human life. (For that purpose Banner was left at HQ, he didn’t seem put out by it at all. Apparently he was in the middle of something delicate and no one should look that gleeful about being up for 24 hours straight waiting to see if a mouse would explode.) 

“Still noting.” Iron Man said helpfully. There was a faint whine from the propulsion systems that allowed him to hover as he made a pass close by. A dog down the street barked in panic as Iron Man passed. 

“How about you maintain radio silence until there is something to report Iron Man.” Natasha said in a smooth low voice with only a hint of threat. 

Tony said nothing. The silence sounded accusatory, Steve tried not to smile too obviously. Tony reminded him of his own team, non-regulation but effective. The others were warming up to him, but even Thor had a warriors code, Tony didn’t seem to abide by a code that wasn’t his own whimsy. The evening was cool but not cold, and the twilight stretched out the shadows cast by the street lights flicking on one by one down the street. 

Something made the hair on the back of his neck rise. The air sharpening around him, he didn’t quite understand his instincts but he did learn to trust them. Usually there was a bullet flying for him, reptilian part of his brain faster than any logical thing he could understand. 

“Iron Man, one more scanner sweep.” Steve rest his weight a little more evenly between his feet. Something was coming. Natasha looked at him, but fell into a more relaxed stance, ready for anything.

“Scanning, still not, oh _hello_.”

“Status.” 

“The signal is indistinct, it’s not showing on the heat scanners well at all, double checking with Stark Industries imaging satellites. Woah, what the fuck? JARVIS, what is that?” 

“It seems to be a species of the genus _Velociraptor_ , it is inconclusive on species designation.”

“Do not engage Tony, wait for us to catch up, where are they?”

“Coming up out of north east, Richard drive, there is a lot of tree cover. Also I would like to formally lodge a complaint that you don’t think that I, man of metal and super advanced technology, couldn’t take on a pride of raptors.” Steve wasn’t sure what a raptor was, but he assumed big lizard. “A... murder of raptors? A herd?” 

“Pack.” Clint answered him, “saw it on BBC.” 

“Alright,” Tony agreed, “there is a pack of raptors, and I would like to note for the record, I could take them, this isn’t Lost Planet.” 

“Stand down.” Steve bit out. 

As it turned out, a _Velociraptor_ was a large lizard, about shoulder height, they stood upright on massive haunches balanced with long tails. Covered in a mix of scales and long feathers. One of them was sitting in the pool of light left by a street light. It was dragging its leg and letting out a pathetic braying almost honking sound. Steve was going to make towards it when Tony cut in. 

“They are spreading out, it looks like an attempt to bait and flank, oh, oops.” Steve hadn’t been paying attention to the barking dog (stimuli processed and deemed irrelevant) cut off with a single high pitched yelp that turned wet and descended into a whine that stopped suddenly. 

There was a roar, and the distinct sound of Tony’s pressure weapon firing. That _idiot_.

“Thor, Black Widow, break up the formation from the left, Hawkeye with me, let’s not let them get us flanked.” 

“Confirmed.” Black Widow was little more than a black shadow with hair that caught the light, flashing dark red in the gloom. Thor was the opposite, in his battle armour the cape billowed and his breast plate was shined after each use. He was impossible to miss. They made a good team, Thor was the obvious target, representing the apparent threat and hard to miss. Black Widow, like her namesake hid until the moment to strike where she was effortlessly lethal. 

“Iron Man?” 

“Good, good, I am so good.” Tony said back. The one standing in the pool of light was watching Steve, head cocked to the side so it could watch them better. Steve got a little closer, they didn’t seem to be hostile yet. 

When he was a few meters from it still, it threw back its head and let out a shrill sound, casting off the injured ploy and lunging at him with spring coiled force. He barely had the time to bring up the shield and still it ran right into it, full weight behind it. 

“It was a signal, they are closing on your position fast.” Black Widow informed him. 

“Fight me with honour lizard creature.” Thor bellowed, cracking the tarmac with a swing that missed the fast little lizards. They were swarming at him, dancing out of the way and lunging at his back. 

“Incoming.” Clint said, and the sound his bow made was a low bass, a thump that echoed in Steve’s stomach this close. “Five coming from the left and rear. Six.” Steve shoved the one off of him, and it skid backwards hissing at him, crouching low but waiting for him to turn to the others. They emit a sort of rattling click, mixed with hisses and the occasional short screech. 

“Watch the claws on their feet.” Thor said, sounding dismayed. 

Steve looked at the one, and flung his shield, quick, it wasn’t expecting his reach to be quite that long and it hit it in the centre of its body mass, knocking it off its feet with a yelp. Natasha shot it dead from 15 meters, a cluster of three shots right through its throat spraying the ground with black blood. Steve nodded a quick thanks to her that she didn’t even notice, busy as she was picking off the creatures all engaging Thor. 

Steve grabbed his shield, the movement of getting it from the ground to his hands so familiar he barely even noticed it, already turning and flinging it again. The creature had already been in the air, lunging for Clint’s exposed side. The shield hit it and it fell to the ground where Clint with his offhand drew a small gun from the small of his back and shot it twice in the chest. It screeched. 

“Heads up.” Tony said. 

It was only through training and unshakable nerves that stopped Steve from looking up when Iron Man deplored the flares are dangerously low levels. Natasha and Clint were too well trained to look, and when asked Thor admit that had been one of Loki’s favourite tricks. Of course all of the dinosaurs stopped and looked up. 

“Veloci-kiss my ass.” Clint hissed, letting two bolts fly in rapid succession. 

“That was pretty lame.” Tony said, whatever else he was about to say was drowned out by a loud crack, Thor’s hammer finally finding the mark and sending one of the creatures flying into a second one. Natasha threw a knife at another, turning on the last in her range even as it left her fingers. Steve vaulted over the downed one picked up his shield and threw it in the same movement, it hit with a sickening crunch and the dinosaur let out an ear-splitting scream, this close it rattled his molars. 

“I dare you to do better.” Hawkeye huffed. 

“I am going to T- _wrecks_ you.” Iron Man chuckled gleefully and Black Widow broke radio silence to snort at the same time Hawkeye groaned. 

“That was awful.” Hawkeye hissed. “Awful, I should shoot you for crimes against humanity.” He did shoot, but one of them went down, arrow sticking out of its neck. “Bulls-eye.”

“Whatever.” Iron Man replied. 

The rest went down in a fashion, the last few scattering with a scream as their comrades fell in groups. 

“Black Widow, Iron Man, don’t let them escape.” 

She leapt after them taking off tearing down the street while Iron Man sped past overhead firing at the ground in front of the one in front, they both swung around and right into Black Widow’s assault. She tossed two of those little electric buttons that burst into life causing them to both rear up with a sharp cry. Shooting one while Iron Man landed on the back of the other crushing it into the ground at her feet. 

In the ensuing silence the sound of the doors all the way down the street opening at once seem ominously loud. People were peering out in groups, some pressed up against their windows. Like some sort of genie from a bottle a mega-phone crackled to life, Clouson’s droll voice piercing the night. 

“Please remain indoors it may still be dangerous, for your safety, I repeat please remain indoors.” Still Steve could see people hanging out of their windows to take better photos. 

“Oh, guess what, we’re like totally trending.” Iron Man landed with a clang next to them. 

“Trending?” Steve looked at him and Iron Man gave him a cocky sort of grin. 

“You’re internet famous Cap.” 

“Tony, shut up and help move the bodies.” Coulson looked away from his megaphone and gave Iron Man a blank look. 

“I’ll consult- that’s my job I consult, Cap, put your back into it. See I’m doing my job, I do it well. I would like to point out that the suit can withstand most electrical currents, up to a point I tested it personally, so you and your taser can stay over there. I said lift Mr. America, lift.” 

They were surprisingly heavy, mostly muscle without an inch of fat, living machines built for killing, sharp talons on the feet for ripping and shredding. The surviving creatures were tranquilized and loaded onto a separate truck. Despite his vocal protests Iron Man eventually did deign to lend a helping hand.

The briefing after was quiet, it was well dark, approaching the middle of the night and edging onto early morning. Fury showed no sign of even noticing that these were not regular hours. None of the other agents did either, Thor could probably fight for days and Clint and Natasha were too used to odd hours. Tony of course was not included in briefings unless his input was needed (rarely). 

“So, we need to figure out where the dinosaurs are coming from.” Clint said waving a hand around. “This is not Journey to the Centre of the Earth, I refuse to deal with this any longer.”

“Objection duly noted and dismissed agent Barton.” Fury said while Natasha sniffed, looking amused. “This isn’t your average zoo escape, they are coming from somewhere. We’re having no luck with the source, for now all we can do is be ready for another attack.”

~~

Movie night seemed to be a thing; they would all meet in the television room at headquarters. At first it was just Tony and him, and then Thor joined in, as always curious about Midgardian culture. Bruce was next, he walked past and wasn’t fast enough to duck the arm Thor threw around his shoulders, roped rather physically into the fold. 

Tony actually rarely paid attention to them, tapping away near silently at whatever he had on hand, sometimes a thin pad thing and sometimes something smaller and brighter that fit into the palm of his hand. Still he kept suggesting films over their occasional lunches. 

So it was a thing now. Tonight they were on the second Star Wars (the second old one Tony explained, new ones were shit, you’re lucky to have missed them). 

Thor took up the couch, sprawling like only a prince could, one arm thrown along the back of the couch Bruce was curled up against the other end, brown loafers kicked off and surprisingly colourful socks tucked under his thighs. That left the smaller couch for Tony and him. 

“Feet.” Tony demanded imperiously and Steve arched an eyebrow at him as Tony shoved his feet over his lap, sitting sideways along the couch. 

“Sorry?” Steve said trying to sound strictly polite and Tony looked at him, letting his bottom lip stick out a little. It was the most ridiculous thing. 

“You can’t expect to get away with that.” Bruce said, but he was smiling at them, one of those tentative little half-smiles that he gave when he was feeling particularly at ease. Steve was finally beginning to get the hang of that smile, team was team, big and green or not. In the future everything was different, but comrades in arms was something that had been the same since ancient times. 

“Watch me.” Tony laughed, wiggling his toes while Steve huffed. 

Which was when Natasha walked in, her gaze jumped around the room, lightening quick analysis of threats and exits that she was still trying to teach Steve to do instinctively. Her sharp look settled on them, Steve with Tony’s feet in his lap, Tony leaning back against the arm in an artful sprawl so he could better goad Bruce. It was impossible to tell her tactical assessment from the blank face, and Steve figured that was the first lesson in spy school. Give nothing away. 

“Hey, want to watch a movie with us?” Steve asked, because it was the polite thing to do. Just because she wasn’t a freak didn’t mean she wasn’t also team. 

“We are watching the war of the stars, it is an epic tale from a galaxy far far away.” Thor said with a grin so wide it was threatening to pull his face apart. “Obi Wan is a great and honourable warrior. Stark says that I can also be a jedi.” 

“Taking orders for lightsabers.” Tony smirked at her, refusing to move from his loose sprawl, although as small as she is she probably wouldn’t fit comfortably on the couch with them. Still Steve felt like he should give his seat to her, but knew better to try. “I tried a few times when I was younger, but there has always been problems with a portable energy source that can power a laser. If I modify the hologram technology I should be able to make a beam that self terminates. As for the force, you’re going to need to master that one all on your own big guy.” 

“No problem.” Thor boasted and Steve snorted. “Loki would like these films, these Jedi are great mages.” 

Tony choked in time with Bruce both of them looking horrified. “Not a good idea.” Bruce mumbled. “Bad, bad idea.” 

“Just hit play.” Natasha said, and somehow she fit herself in between Bruce and Thor, compacting herself into a neat little ball under Thor’s outstretched arm. If she thought anything was weird at all she didn’t say.

“Note:” Tony mumbled out loud, “requisition new couch, and maybe a television that isn’t so shit. P.S. start making TVs.” 

Steve wasn’t sure if he was kidding or not, which he was just beginning to accept as normal. 

Steve actually gasped when Darth Vader revealed his identity and also secretly agreed; Loki wouldn’t like this movie. Thor wanted to watch the next one immediately, and it only took a little cajoling to get everyone to agree. It was a thing, but it was a good thing. Even Tony ‘my time is worth more than you will make in a life time’ Stark agreed to stay for the next one, he even began to mumble a little about something called Space Balls which needed to be seen too.

~~

Steve wasn’t sure what the meeting is about, Clint had dropped by his room, sticking his head in with a faint smile, ‘Fury wants to see you at two, try not to let him eat your head, he’s in a snit.’ Fury in a snit is like a room coated with bear traps, you know it only takes one wrong step and it was all iron teeth. 

“Mr. Fury?” He looked through the door into his office. Fury’s office was a dark little corner of S.H.I.E.L.D., a warren of halls and fire doors. Steve wondered if he hid his office for some tactical reason. Fury would do that, and not just to confuse the lesser agents. 

“Come in Captain.” Fury had these sort of glasses, only it was more like monocle, and it was really hard to look at. Steve had a horrible moment where he wondered if this was what it was like to be Tony, because there were a million inappropriate comments were building like a dramatic Hollywood car crash behind his teeth. 

“Was there something you needed sir?” Steve swallowed them down forcefully, because he was an adult and that was the mature thing to do. Still he couldn’t stop looking at it. 

“Sit down son.” Steve took the seat across from him. “You’ve been integrating well, you’ve exceeded all the projected values for your adaptation, a lesser man wouldn’t have been able to do what you’ve done here. I’d like to congratulate you.” 

“Thank you sir.” Steve flushed a little, he never liked having to take a compliment, after all it wasn’t just him, he had a whole team of people pointing things out, correcting him when he was wrong. “I’ve had a lot of help.” 

“This is what I want to talk to you about.” Fury took off his weird little glasses thing and set them down on the document he was reading. If it were not for the leather jacket hanging on the door and the shoulder holster next to it, he could have been any office manager. “Initially your association with Tony Stark was deemed a positive way to integrate you, he represents a lot of your past, don’t think I don’t know what you see when you look at him.” 

Steve flushed again, but this time it wasn’t pride or embarrassment but something awful, squirming in his stomach. He’d asked Fury initially, but still he hadn’t been able to get evidence. It had sort of become his little secret, pressing his ear to a seashell and listening to the echo of the sea inside. “It’s not like that.” He argued, because it needed to be said, no matter how untrue it felt on his tongue. 

“Soldier you’ve gone through a major trauma, it makes sense to see your loved ones in him. Your obsession with him has gone past healthy, for your sanity and the sake of the team I advise you distance yourself from Stark. I have it on good authority only three people are capable of dealing with his shit all the time.” 

The tangle of emotion was overwhelming for a moment. He didn’t like Tony _only_ because of that. He couldn’t, that would be the cruellest thing someone could do to Tony, fresh on the horror was a wave of anger. Who was Fury to tell him how close he could be with his team mates? 

“I believe your words were it’s none of your business.” He’s not quite snapping, but it’s the tone was the one he knew means that he’s about to do something against orders. It’s amazing most people don’t see right through him, Bucky always did. He would smother his grin rocking on his toes when Steve would say that yes he understood the tactical importance of leaving team six without back-up. They both knew as soon as they were dismissed exactly where they were going. 

Bucky would have probably liked Tony. Or he would have hated him. Bucky was a good judge of character, and Tony was quite the character. Steve may be a little biased in figuring it out. Without him Steve just had to go with his gut. 

“Look. You’re an important asset, and Tony Stark is dangerously unpredictable, destruction follows him around like the bimbos that throw themselves at him.” Fury watched his expression and it was like being shot, such a direct stare piercing through his skin and trying to look at his thoughts. Steve has been called an asset way too many times to be offended by it at this point in his career. “Think about it, are you thinking clearly when it comes to him. If it will help you any, that question you asked me? Yes.” 

Steve couldn’t think of anything to say to that, had Fury known Peggy too? It all felt too personal to discuss here and now. So he didn’t say anything at all. 

“Dismissed.” Fury picked up his glasses again and this time they didn’t look quite so funny. 

For the first time, Steve didn’t feel like pestering Tony for food, which to be fair if he didn’t beat Thor there first he was out of luck, let the big guy have a go. 

That night he was curled up with Bruce, Thor and Natasha watching America’s Next Top Model (‘Tony, who is Tyra Banks?’ ‘A really good memory, right up there in the top three, I mean that, well maybe top five. It got complicated, still, let me show you.’) Bruce had a notebook balanced on his knees like he was pretending he wasn’t as addicted as the rest of them. There was just something about it that captivated Steve. The birds were not his usual type, so young and vulnerable, but there was something about the viciousness that shone through from time to time that had him rooting for one girl or another. 

Natasha was watching it and eating a slice of pizza. The lights casting her skin pale, with a doll-like quality given by her blank stare. Steve knew it had to be her who was reporting to Fury about him, but he couldn’t confront her about it. What would he say? He couldn’t be sure it wasn’t true. 

At least Tyra Banks was a good distraction. 

~~

Tony was a flurry of manic movement and intent. He was also half in the ceiling and raining dust and plaster all over a junior agent that was holding the ladder steady. 

Steve couldn’t help but smile, he grabbed the ladder and nodded at the relieved looking agent. His hair and suit jacket were coasted in plaster and he looked thoroughly miserable. 

“John, Jake, what’s your name, pass me the amp-meter, I need something slightly more sophisticated than my phone for this.” 

“What’s that look like?” Steve asked, looking at Tony’s expensive shoes and the hems of his jeans. 

“Oh, you’re, Steve when did you get there? You were not there before were you? I’m not the best with faces but I think I’d remember you. For the novelty you see?” Tony babbled, giving him a quick smile. 

Steve didn’t. 

“It’s the yellow one with the square face and the red and black leads.” That was half of the bag of goodies at the base of the ladder. “Do you need me to come down or can you hold it steady?” Tony looked actually interested in his answer so Steve smiled at him. 

“I can hold it.” 

The one on the left looked promising. Holding the ladder steady with one hand he bent to snag the little meter and pass it up to Tony. Tony gave him a wolfish smile before disappearing back into the ceiling like a gremlin (another movie night favourite). The room was filled with the strum of a guitar followed by something that sounded like a cross between a cat and raw electricity wailing away from Tony’s pants. 

“Ah, phone. Steve, back pocket, just say hello and it will pick up.” 

Steve blushed to think what anyone walking by would think if they saw him right now. He gingerly fished the phone out of Tony’s pocket while he made fake little breathy moans. “Stop that Tony.” He snapped, shifting the ladder to his other hand so he could press the phone, which looked _nothing_ like a phone to his face. 

“Hello?” He said hesitantly.

“Tony, what the hell was that last night?” The voice was angry and female. 

“Sorry? Tony’s in the ceiling.” Steve said, trying to sound certain and not at all like he knew anything about whatever happened last night. He didn’t, but it was best to be sure where Tony was involved. 

“Tell him he knows the rules, this is the one gala he can’t miss, and he can’t cancel it.” She snapped and Steve figured out that it was probably Mrs. Potts on the line. He felt a little better about that, if there was one thing he didn’t want to deal with it was trying to field one of Tony’s angry mistresses, he would jump on a grenade for the guy but he couldn’t do that. 

“I know what’s she’s saying, tell her it’s my gala, I can do what I want.” Tony called down, voice muffled by whatever he was doing. 

“Tell him that excuse doesn’t fly next week, we have the same argument every year.” Mrs. Potts sighed loudly, speaking almost simultaneously. This was clearly a tango they both knew the step to. She was the only person Steve knew who could talk as fast as Tony, and when they talked to each other it was like watching two songbirds trying to compete, each trying to be that much louder. “Just, remind him that he can’t miss his own father’s memorial gala.” 

Steve choked on something invisible and hard. He swallowed. “Tell her you’ll go instead, you knew him.” Tony’s voice was muffled with a faint echo from filtering down through the white-wash tile. 

“I.” Steve wasn’t sure what to say, it didn’t seem like they could hear each other but they were doing fine without him actually passing the messages. “I knew Howard.” He said at last, sounding normal enough out loud. “Could... I go too? I mean Tony sort of said I could.”

“Oh.” Mrs. Potts paused, but only for a moment. “Of course, I am speaking to Steve Rogers I presume?” 

“Yes ma’am.” He replied. 

“I’ll put you on the guest list and have an invitation delivered immediately.” Nothing short of bullets and explosions could shake her; then again she had worked for Tony for years now. Steve admired that most about her. 

They said their pleasantries and ended the call; Tony continued to bang around in the ceiling occasionally mumbling things to himself. 

They hadn’t really talked about Howard since that one aborted attempt. It wasn’t for lack of wanting. Tony found a way of out those conversations before they could even really begin like he had a sixth sense for avoiding emotional situations. When Steve did try it was like trying to defuse a bomb with a blindfold, one wrong word and Tony was simply gone. 

Eventually he was satisfied with whatever was going on inside the ceiling and Steve realized he’d been musing while staring at Tony’s thighs. Denim seared into his eyes even when he blinked he could see the outline of Tony’s keys in his front pocket. He looked away quickly. 

“Thanks, you’re an excellent prop, good thing to see millions of dollars of government funding being put to such good use.” Tony smiled at him, wide and shit-eating. He looked exhausted, the haunted shadows under his eyes deeper than usual. Steve wondered if everything was okay, was he sleeping? 

“Just doing my part.” Steve replied smartly. Tony sniffed. 

“Any Dick, John or Sarah could hold the ladder and ogle my junk.” Steve gaped at him and Tony laughed, clapping him on the shoulder. “Look, I need to check a few more of the alarm nodes manually, the initial wiring is messy and won’t hold the power re-flow systems I have coded. If you want to follow me around holding the ladder feel free.” 

“That sounds... _thrilling_.” Steve mumbled. 

“I pride myself in being able to show a guy a good time.” Tony winked at him and sashayed down the hall with an exaggerated hip sway that would do his assistant’s ridiculous shoes proud. Best not to ever think about that. 

Steve was brave, he was a soldier. “Tony, wait. I need to talk about something.” 

“Is this about the dinosaurs? Because I saw the briefing notes, I know Fury didn’t _say_ I could see them, but he never said I couldn’t.” 

“No-“ But Tony, being Tony talked right on over him like a runaway car.

“Still, it doesn’t count as stealing if he doesn’t know right? You’re not going to tell are you Cap? Because even if you do there isn’t a system alive that could keep me out if I had the time to sweet talk her out of her secrets. So it’s really like she’s giving it to me, not stealing at all.” 

“Tony.” Steve laughed. Fury had to know that Tony would stick his fingers everywhere, wanted or not. 

“Hear me out, oh exalted one, I read over the analysis Bruce did on the tissue samples and whatever xenobiologst-slash-palaeontologists were all wet for.” 

Tony could mean literally wet, but the chances were slim. Steve chose not to comment on that. 

“Same basic structure as earth-life, carbon based, in fact highly their genetic structure in an initial pass shows some of the same major genes as humans. Cells have a lipid bi-layer membrane and the same overall structure. All very interesting for the hippies.” Tony waved his hands about, scrunching his nose around the words. Tony didn’t do organics unless G-forces were involved, and only then to ensure he wasn’t going to mash his own internal organs into a Sunday dinner side, Tony’s words not Steve’s. “But, that does make you wonder, where are they coming from? I refuse to believe that the key to understanding evolutionary life and wiping creationists faces in it comes from Newark.” 

“Uhuh.” Bewildered was a good word for it, but he wasn’t about to get a word edgewise when Tony was ranting like his tongue was on fire. 

“Damage data, sorry again about the dog they were a lot faster than they looked I didn’t think it would actually catch Fido but to be fair I saved the kid, so that’s like even karma right?-- leads to an overpass which shows no signs of being anything out of a Jules Verne novel, so they had to be dropped there? Right? There must be someone doing this.” 

“What you’re saying—“

“What I mean is someone is out there, and they must have the tech to do this and I want it.” Tony grinned at him, lack of sleep met devil may care. “Can I have it?” 

“Do you know who has the ability to do something like this?” It was a valid theory, from what he understood from the rambled explanation.

“Genetic experimentation isn’t my forte, that would be you and the Hulk, but I will put our feelers. Yes. I think I have an idea.” 

Tony pulled out his phone, Steve could only stand there and watch him, awkwardly holding the ladder while Tony tapped away at his phone. Whatever he was doing in the ceiling could clearly wait for a few more minutes. 

“Wont Fury be _so_ mad when I work it out?” Tony bounced on his toes. 

“Furious even.” Steve said and Tony threw back his head in a laugh. It was a tactical retreat; in that moment Steve knew he wasn’t going to be able to bring it up today either. Not when Tony was finally warming up to him. Well as much as Tony seemed capable of warming up to someone. Also Steve knew he was awkward, and there was no way confronting Tony was going to be easy. He couldn’t just not do it, he just didn’t have to do it right now when Tony was looking manic with genius and high on whatever problem was racing through his head. He looked a rough approximation of happy. 

“Come on Cap, that ladder isn’t going to hold itself and if I fall off a ladder that will be the whole Health and Safety BS completely blown. Then Coulson will tase me blowing the whole thing --twice. Anarchy I tell you.”

~~

Steve had more practice being awkward than most people. He excelled at it. Pinnacle of the human ideal and all that. 

He stood feeling out of his depth in a corner of the posh conference room filled to the brim with society’s elite. Women in regal dresses minced around on their spiky shoes, the more daring revealing the curve of their chest or the long sweet line down the back. Dresses certainly were forward now. 

It was okay. Steve tried to not look at anything that seemed to be like too much skin. It was difficult but he was doing a bang up job of standing in the corner like one of the many artfully arranged foliage pieces wearing a suit that fit but only just, and desperately wishing there was an easier way to pay homage to Howard’s memory. It helped a little to imagine that Howard would find this completely hysterical. 

Tony was nowhere in sight. His girl was working the crowd talking to people and teetering on a pair of shoes that Natasha could beat someone to death with. 

The beginning of the night hadn’t been so bad, they called up a bunch of fresh-faced and clearly terrified youths who’d won the Howard Stark scholarship for innovation. Tony had been there for that, all blank smiles and sleazy charm that made the crowd laugh. He’d since vanished. He was probably busy. Now it was time for socializing and Steve didn’t know how to talk to anyone outside of the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility and they all gave him a handicap in conversations that a normal civilian wouldn’t know about. He did realize that he was hiding, but it sounded better if he called it recon in his head. 

“Hello, I don’t think I recognize you.” She wasn’t quite purring, but it was a close thing. Steve didn’t have a good track record with sexually aggressive women. “And I know everyone here.” 

“Good evening.” He tipped his head politely. She was wearing a blue dress of some slinky material that clung to the sharp juts of her hips. Steve was never going to get over how skinny women made themselves, gone were the curves and sweetness of his time. He didn’t understand the appeal at all. 

“I don’t think we’ve met yet.” She prompted again and Steve flushed a little. 

“Ah, no, I don’t think so. Hello.” She gave him the same slow smile that would have sent smaller men into retreat. Steve has had things size him up to eat that looked less primal in their hunger. “... Are you enjoying the party?” He tried for polite. 

“I am now.” Smile. Steve swallowed. 

“That’s good. Very good.” He had no idea what to talk about, “did you know Howard?”

“He died when I was a little girl, how old do you think I am?” It wasn’t quite a pout, it was too smug to be a pout. But it did make the lights catch the high sheen of her lips so that they sparkled attractively. 

“Young, I didn’t mean that in a bad way, I mean you look young—just. I’m sorry.” 

“Calm down big boy, I was just playing with you.” Steve swallowed hard, he could freely admit in that moment if asked, that he was terrified. 

Which was when Mrs. Potts found him. She swayed over, gave the woman and assessing gaze that was shockingly cold. 

“Are you having a nice evening Mrs. Everhart? Mr. Rogers?” If a tone could cut hers would have chopped the woman in half, but she was made of stronger stuff than that and nodded her head like she had no idea Pepper didn’t seem to like her very much at all.

“Good evening Mrs. Potts.” Steve replied, giving her a look that was probably more desperation than anything else; he should probably feel a little ashamed about that. Pepper’s gaze warmed up a little, painted lips curling in a faint smile as she looked at him. 

“I’d like to say after six months as CEO, you’ve done miracles for the image of Stark Industries, it can’t have been easy.” The blonde’s entire demeanour changed, back straightening and chin held high, challenge in her eyes. She was still all predator but she’d scented something she wanted more. Of course, Mrs. Potts could wrangle Tony when not even Fury could rein him in eve with all the force of the government of the US of A behind him. Steve was promptly forgotten as they metaphorically circled each other. 

“The company has always been strong; Mr. Stark still handles large parts of the research and development divisions in addition to his duties as Iron Man.” The answer was flat; it seemed planned like it wasn’t the first time she’d had to say this.

“And as a powerful woman how do you feel about the over-masculinised aspects of this new wave of ‘super heroes’?” 

“I feel better knowing Mr. Stark has found better outlets for his... _energy_. Steve, if you would walk with me, I need your assistance. Mrs. Everhart, have a fabulous evening.” She threaded her arm through his and used her slight weight to tug him into motion. He stumbled after her, being led away from his safety corner by her fingers pressing threateningly against the inside of his elbow. 

“Who was that?” Steve asked while Mrs. Potts smiled in a politely dismissive manner at a man who waved at them, the expression was the exact same one Tony got when he didn’t want to talk to someone. It was uncanny. 

“A vulture.” She hissed back before visibly drawing herself back together, she eased up the grip on his arm a little. “Journalist for Vanity Fair, she specializes in Tony.”

“Where is he? I saw him make a speech earlier.” 

“With any luck hiding in a closet with a bottle of wine and a bottle of whisky, if he is still here. If not, he’s in Beijing buying a high-rise to host an orgy.” 

“What?” Steve’s mind boggled at so much of that. 

“Hope he’s here.” She dragged him towards a door set unobtrusively in the background marked ‘STAFF ONLY’, make no mistake about whom was escorting whom here she was completely behind the wheel. “I’m going to need you to drag him out of whatever hole he’s climbed into. He’s heavier than he looks and Rhodie or Happy normally does this with me but they can’t right now and Tony needs to give a speech.” She didn’t look angry, just resigned. Steve had figured by now that they had a set pattern for the day. 

They did find Tony, and he was actually in a closet with a bottle of red wine. It had stained his mouth a deep red and he flicked his tongue against his lips staring up at Mrs. Potts blurrily. 

“Pep. You found me, I was beginning to wonder if I would need to find the door handle myself. It’s wily.” His smile was wide and completely unfocused. He looked well and truly trashed.

“Oh Tony, you know the drill by now, it’s time for your speech. Just like last year Tony.”

“Like pulling off a band-aid right?” He slurred, the words, stopping to repeat himself slowly. “Help me up.” 

The first attempt was a false start; he teetered wildly until Steve caught him and hauled him up by the shoulders. He was lighter than he looked, or maybe his personality took up so much space that he just seemed larger than he was. Steve held him steady with an arm around his elbow, Tony listed a little to the side before correcting himself. 

“Hey there Cap, I didn’t see you. Come to watch the freak show? Oh hey, have you ever seen me pee in the suit, it’s _awesome_.” The conviction with which he said that really should have been funny but Steve was actually worried that Tony had managed to poison himself this time. Steve did sort of wonder how Tony went bathroom with the suit on, but figured that Tony was a genius and had something figured out. Or he just held it. 

“You’re not wearing the suit right now Tony.” Mrs. Potts said severely and Tony twisted so he was resting his head on Steve’s shoulder and could look at her properly. He kept leaning left but Steve had a strong grip on his shoulders and waist now. It was lucky that the gala was happening in the reception hall so there was no one in the hallway when Tony emerged blinking from his closet. Of course with the reputation that Stark had made for himself in public it wasn’t like anyone would be shocked by the photographs, still Steve was thankful on Tony’s behalf. _He_ didn’t want anyone to see Tony like this. 

“Right, see I knew that.” He smiled fondly at Pepper. “But you reminded me. What would I do without you?” She made a huffing sound but didn’t answer him. 

“You’re going to feel awful tomorrow.” He mumbled to Tony. Once during the war he’d hid Bucky in an old barrel of wine, and he’d come out looking less green than Tony but smelling much the same. 

“I feel awful now, what’s the difference? It doesn’t matter.” Tony had looked awful at the beginning of the night and he was a rumpled mess now, and not in the way he usually did (like he’d been rolling in bed a moment before) but actually awful. Steve hadn’t been human by the strictest definition for a long time, but he could remember the weak sickly feeling writ all over Tony’s face. 

“Why do you do this to yourself?” He sort of meant it as an honest question and sort of as an observation on Tony’s life style. From what Steve could tell Tony hadn’t been sleeping well in the last few weeks. 

“It’s tradition, right Pep? You don’t mess with tradition.” Steve looked at her over Tony’s head and she just blinked at him like this was completely normal talk. Between the two of them, someone had to realize that alcohol poisoning was not an acceptable tradition, no matter what Tony said Steve wasn’t biased about these things because he couldn’t get drunk himself. 

“Steve just get him backstage, I’ll do the rest from there, I need to find a stool.” With that she’ veered off down an adjoining hall, determined clicking echoing back to them. 

“I don’t see why she doesn’t get the stool ready in advance; I can never stand for this part.” Tony made a sort of laugh like a deflating balloon. “Watch, all those idiots will clap anyways because that’s what tonight is about.” 

“What?” Steve asked as Tony tried to shrug him off but Steve gripped him harder, hauling him closer he was bigger than Tony he couldn’t escape unless Steve wanted him to. His suit was being wrinkled beyond comparison and the seams were straining at the rough treatment, but it was holding together. He’d had to ask Coulson as politely as he could where he could get a suit and the other man had looked him up and down like he was measuring him with his brain and said it would be taken care of. 

“Me, making a fool out of myself while they judge. It would make my father proud.” It was said with a smile so fake it made Steve’s teeth hurt. “This is Howard’s night. I’ve managed to disappoint him from beyond the grave, it’s about tradition you see. This was my mother’s favourite wine, she died on the same night.”

“Tony, that’s-“ 

“A long time ago.” Tony managed to shake him off, standing on his own before beginning a jerky sort of shuffled down the hall, one hand trailing the wall as a balance point. “Also, shut me up. I get drunk and I talk, and usually it’s only Happy here and he’s bound by contract to keep my secrets. Drunk secrets. _I kissed a girl and I liked it_ ” Tony sang softly to himself. 

“Your mother, she wasn’t your biological mother was she?” This was probably emotional manipulation. Tony was vulnerable and Steve was an awful person because he was going to press that to his advantage; this was a now or never kind of moment. 

“That old rumour? Get with the times Encino Man.” Tony ginned at him maliciously and Steve bit the end of his tongue. It was probably better that he didn’t understand the reference. “My biological Mom was too busy for me, died before I could disappoint her too.” 

“She’d never be disappointed in you.” It came out harsher, almost a snap. Tony stopped, rolling along the wall until his back was flat against it, resting his head steady and he could try and focus on Steve’s face. “She would have loved you.” His expression was somewhere between anger and acute sick. 

“What did you know my mom too?” Moment of truth. Not for the first time Steve wished the champagne he had been sipping earlier would have some sort of physiological affect on him. 

“I loved Peggy Carter.” Past tense still hurt like ripping something from inside him, but it also felt so good to say out loud to someone who knew her or at least meant something to her. 

Tony burst out laughing so hard he knocked himself off balance and his knees hit the tiled floor with a loud crack that made Steve wince. It looked painful, but Tony didn’t seem to care

“You’re fucking _kidding me_. That’s a pretty sick joke Cap, I need more drink. Stat.” The words came out between giggles. Steve wasn’t sure what to do, so he stood there and watched Tony turn progressively more flushed as he gasped for breath around the hysteria. It hurt Steve’s chest something fierce. There was a small vicious part of him that wanted to shake Tony until he stopped laughing. This was supposed to mean something, fix something. Steve felt worse than ever. 

“What did you do, I only left you alone for five minutes! We need to be back stage two and a half minutes ago,” Pepper (she was Pepper now, eyes snapping with anger) “Tony, get up.” 

“Yes,” giggle “ma’am.” He clawed his way up the wall. “I can walk myself, you, stay over there. You... dirty... dirty man.” Tony started off down the hall on his own, losing the wall from time to time as he swayed in the other direction but making a good clip despite the pronounced stagger. Pepper arched a single perfect eyebrow at him before trotting off after Tony making off sort of clucking sounds. 

Steve found his way back to the main room, sitting down hard in his little corner and listened to Tony lie through his teeth. He was sitting on a stool, one arm hooked around it so he wasn’t swaying too visibly. Two ladies next to him were talking lowly ‘this is my favourite part, he’s pissed again isn’t he?’ ‘Do you think I could get him to take me home?’ Someone else was filming it on their phone. Still he was startlingly eloquent for his blood alcohol content, must be all the practice. 

Try as he might Steve couldn’t imagine Tony young, not with all the naivety that came with being a child; he would need to look it up one day. Did Peggy visit him? It was hard to believe that she’d meant to get pregnant, not when Stark was married to Maria (from what he could piece together from google Howard married Maria around when Tony was born). There wasn’t such a thing as a mother who didn’t love her child. He’d pictured their children, their life together; and in his idle fantasies she was a ferocious mother. She would have loved Tony with her whole heart. Only the fact that she _didn’t_ stick around after he was born and Steve wasn’t sure why. 

Mrs. Potts came on after him to usher him off the stage, saying a few last words to the audience and to congratulate the winners of the night again on their achievements. Steve clapped with everyone else and decided to call it a night when he saw Mrs. Everhart catch his eye; clearly scenting some sort of story in him (she was right of course, but he wasn’t at liberty to tell it). 

~~ 

“I’m sorry.” JARVIS said, and he sounded actually contrite. “I’ve been given orders to tell you in the event that you attempted to visit the mansion that Tony is in Thailand, or Japan, maybe Canada. Or that he has the plague, which would you like deterred by today Captain Rogers?” 

“So he’s inside.” Steve frowned at the monitor that showed a video feed of him standing in front of the doors apparently talking to himself. 

“Affirmative.” 

“But he’s told you to tell me he’s got the plague?” Steve frowned harder. 

“Or that he had business away, both of which I have told you.” 

“Is he mad at me?” They hadn’t spoken since the fiasco at Howard’s dinner. Tony had shown hide nor hair in headquarters. He missed movie night. Steve had never been avoided before and he was finding that he didn’t really like it. 

“It’s not my place to speculate on Mr. Stark’s moods.” JARVIS said politely. “However, should you wish to visit in a few days I am sure he will be back from his trip and have gotten over the plague.” Despite himself Steve couldn’t help but smile at the dry accented tones. Leave Tony to make his AI more human than he was. 

“I’ll do that. Thank you, have a nice day JARVIS.” 

“And you too Captain Rogers.” 

Except that the first thing he got upon returning to HQ was Natasha in a pair of jogging pants and a pony tail, standing in the middle of the lobby surrounded by people in suits and still looking like the most professional person there. “Emergency meeting, follow me.” 

“Do you have any idea what’s it’s about?” He followed her into the elevator where she glared at the lone man in there until he scurried out looking pale. Steve would have apologized to him, but being bullied by Natasha and Coulson was some sort of hazing ritual (as Clint explained it in great and vivid detail then tried to explain to Steve that this didn’t break some sort of human rights code.)

“Stark’s called us to assemble.” She made a face like she was sucking on a lemon. “If it is something frivolous I am going to dig out his eyeballs with a spoon and feed it to Loki’s demon dogs when they attack as a special treat. Genius or not I will not put up with his shit.” She spit the curse word. 

“Would he do that?” 

Natasha pursed her lips and looked at him. “It’s not outside of his personality. You that know your faith in him is displaced.” It wasn’t really a question, and she was pinning him to the glass walls with her startlingly green eyes. 

“I think he’s capable of it.” Steve hedged. 

“What I can’t figure out is why you’ve fixated on him. If this is about owing Howard for the serum he won’t thank you for it. You’re only going to hurt him when he fails you.” 

“It’s not that.” Steve began, but the doors dinged open and Natasha stepped out, Steve following on her heels. It wasn’t so much being a gentleman to let her go first as she was faster than him. “It’s complicated.” 

Natasha gave him a flat look over her shoulder before she nodded curtly. “Yes sir.” She was putting her trust in him. The thought was a little disconcerting because he knew her point was a valid one. Tony was volatile and prone to fits of emotion that made him difficult to handle. 

Tony was bouncing on his toes when they made it into the conference room, he was wearing a pair of dark aviators that hid his eyes, and a pinstripe suit all undone; he looked like he might have actually slept in it at some point.

“That’s about everyone.” He clapped. Thor smirked at him, he was sipping from a massive mug that said in block letters ‘Don’t bug me before my coffee’. A gag gift that showed up in their tiny kitchen one day with a note that simply read ‘Reuse me’ on it; probably Jane or Darcy. Clint was lounging across his chair and propped on the one next to it. Natasha kicked his chair as she walked by and he flipped her off lazily. He looked pretty tired for mid-afternoon. Bruce was sitting at the end quietly, blank look on his face that said he was pretty deep in his own head, and it would be best to bring him out of it slowly. Coulson was nowhere to be seen.

“I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work that way. It’s in your contract; not even in the fine print, size 24 bold, you need to be a good boy.” Clint said grinned at him, lazy and languorous like a large cat.

“Yes mother.” Tony snapped, flinched, paused, coughed, and waved his hand in a sharp dismissive motion. “Whatever.” 

“Stark.” Natasha arched her eyebrow at him. 

“Don’t look at me like that; it makes me think you’re skinning me with your eyes.” He snapped at her, looking put out. 

“That’s because I am.” She said back and Tony clutched at his chest. 

“That hurts you know. It’s a good thing I know how good you are at pretending.” 

“Just get on with it.” She hissed at him as Coulson walked into the room to take his seat and Tony sort of shrugged. 

“Good news, I think I know where the dinosaurs are coming from.” He tapped some keys on his phone and something in the ceiling whirled to life projecting an image on the white wall. There was a photo of a white haired old man in a floppy hat with a cane. “Meet John Hammond, tycoon from the amusement park industry and amateur geneticist, well more like a hobby, he dabbles I assume. Tell me Dr. Banner can you be a geneticist dabbler? I believe this is your field. Anyways a number of years ago he heard of my hobby of programming AIs and approached me. He wanted to make life-like dinosaurs for his theme park, wanted me to code them. I was busy changing the world and told my AI to tell him where he could shove it, which may have been a bit of a dick move in retrospect.” 

Clint snorted, while Coulson remained unimpressed looking. Steve on the other hand knew what it was like to get the brush off from JARVIS, and if he could catch Tony he’d need to talk to him about that. 

“Anyways, he didn’t hold it against me; a few years ago he came looking for investors in a new shady project he was running. I think Pepper showed him the door that time, Stark Industries had enough to do at the time, and about a year ago we met at a dinner, notable only because when I threw up on the waiter it was because of shrimp and not gin, and he’s talking about how his new park was almost ready to open and there was still an investment opportunity. Yadda yadda, something about a new park that was part amusement part safari but with an edge that was going to blow away anything on the current market. So I called him up a few days ago, he agreed to give me a sneak peak.”

“ _You what?_ ” Coulson and Steve hissed at the same time and Tony grinned at them, it shouldn’t be possible to look that much like an asshole. 

“Well I asked him if he knew anything about the dinosaurs running around on the streets.” 

“That was not the proper channel of authority _Mr. Stark_.” Coulson looked a step away from shooting Tony on the spot.

“Coulson’s right Tony, you should have come to us before approaching directly.” Steve got the feeling that Tony was glaring at him through his mirrored shades. His lips pressed into a thin irritated line, shifting from the smug smile.

“You are not allowed to do that, not after what you did.” Tony pointed at him, “I am not listening to you at all, in fact, you’re not even here.” 

“Mature.” Steve snapped at him his temper threatening to flash up. Everyone was staring at him now with varying degrees of curiosity. 

“As for you,” he looked at Coulson, “I wasn’t briefed in on this mission –seeing as I am a consultant and all that-- so it was officially just one genius billionaire checking up on those less handsome, less brilliant, and frankly less filthy filthy rich than he. Which honestly covers just about everyone in the world. I talk to who I want to.” Steve bit back something harsh—‘doesn’t play well with others’.

“Stark.” Coulson bit. 

“Agent.” Tony smiled back, unrepentant, clapping and rubbing his palms together. “Anyways, as it turns out, the company he contracted to help with the genetic engineering, one Transgene Incorporated, turned out to be a little on the shady side, which he seemed actually shocked by. He thinks they kept some of the samples for further tampering, and those are the ones we have been seeing.” 

“Could they have escaped from his park?” Natasha tapped her long varnished nails on the glass table top as she spoke. It was the same rhythm that Tony tapped against things when he was thinking. Steve wondered if it meant anything. 

“Improbable, the park is on a small island in South East Asia where the ethics laws are less strict, given he’s lost a few staff moving the creatures. Besides if you were an escaped dinosaur living the high life, why would you choose to go to Newark? Anyways the company has an R&D around here and the creatures spotted seem to be modified, bigger and more vicious than the initial breeds. It’s not like we have any other leads right now.”

“Excellent.” Clapped Thor. “Perhaps they have more of those lizards, they are a most interesting adversary. I think I’d like one.”

“Me too big guy.” Tony grinned at him. Steve was still angry, mildly impressed at what Tony was capable of when he put his mind to it, but mostly angry at him for behaving like a child. 

“Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow, there was a call, a small herd of flying creatures has been spotted circling the Empire building, they can spit acid. They have already killed three civilians and put several more in the ER. The two of you are to take care of it, the rest of you are to head to the facility and investigate.” 

“Hey. That was my lead.” Tony protested. “I never said you could have it.” 

“Deal with it,” Coulson snapped. “You’re needed elsewhere, Avengers Assemble. Tony, shut up, get your suit and get to work.” 

Tony flashed them a dirty look on his way out the door, Steve didn’t envy Natasha for her mission. It wasn’t going to be an easy one; Tony was going to be in a tiff. She stood up and made for the ready room where her outfit and weapons were stored. Bruce stared at Coulson with that tight lipped look he gave whenever he was mentally grappling with the fact that he was going to have to knowingly unleash the monster. What it must be like inside his head. 

“Let’s suit up too.” Steve stood. 

“Woah, woah, not so fast, what did you do to Tony?” Clint was staring at him, eyes like a bead on his face, sniper scope precision when he was interested in something. “This sounds big; whatever you did really put his panties in a real twist. I want to know. I mean this is _Stark_.” At least he was blunt. 

“It’s personal.” Steve said, but Clint just sort of smiled at him. Steve liked to think that meant he would drop it. But he knew better, and he knew Clint was better at getting secrets out of people than that, his smile showed a little too many teeth to be sincere. “We don’t have time for it now.” 

“Sure man.” Clint pushed himself standing in one graceful sort of twisting motion. “Let’s roll.” 

Thor gave him a soft look. “Brothers in arms shouldn’t fight, nothing good ever comes of it.” 

“I know.” Steve smiled at Thor and he nodded in return. 

The Captain America suit wasn’t designed to be easy to put on, it was designed to be difficult to get through. Some sort of really snazzy high-tec weave. Steve figured the best way was to simply not get hit. He wiggled into the tight outfit, letting the whole thing zip up the side, fastening hidden by the material itself. 

“Dude, do I like need to be worried about you seeing my wang?” Clint leered at him out of the corner of his eye. 

“What?” Steve’s fingers slipped on the small zipper. 

“I mean, that’s got to be it right? This weird little romancing thing you and Tony have been doing has finally come to a head, ba-dum cha, and you pulled something overly kinky with him. Did you not honour his safe word? Because that’s totally not cool.”

“ _What_?” He repeated and frowned hard at Clint. Then stopped because he dropped the jeans he was wearing along with his pale blue boxers displaying his pale bottom. Steve glared at him sharply. “Not funny.” 

“Well I’m just saying, I am a high quality piece of ass and if you’re working through sixty years of homosexual liberation, I think I have the right to be a little worried. Better watch out Thor, you are grade A prime man-meat.” 

“Should you wish to engage in delicious sexual contact with me Captain Rogers, I am bound to inform you that my Lady Jane would also like to take part.” 

“I- _**What?**_ ” Clint sputtered and Thor clapped him on the back booming with laughter. It was impossible to tell if he was joking or not. Steve wasn’t sure which one he wanted to believe if he was going to be honest, the idea left him feeling more than a little uncomfortable. Not because it was true, but the implications, and yes that was in the briefing note, things like that were okay now. Still. Repress and ignore. “I- you can’t just drop something on us like that. I am never going to get rid of that mental image now.”

“Stop messing around.” Steve pulled the cowl down over his face, sealing up the seams with a touch and Clint wiggled into the black outfit, fingers flying over the catches with the ease of repetitive motion. He hooked himself into the harness and pulled on his gloves. Thor managed to pull on his battle armour quite quickly for how complicated it looked. 

“Do you think anyone would notice if we took one. I’m sure Stark could find a place to put it.” Thor grinned looking gleeful again. He always did go into a bit of a sulk whenever something would remind him too strongly of Loki. 

“I’m sure he could.” Clint said. They were suited up and from there it was only a quick flight of stairs up to the helicopter pad. 

“They would make a most wondrous pet, one of those big ones from before, I wish to see one.” 

“Roger.” Clint said, shooing the pilot out of the seat so he could strap himself instead, he flicked through the pre-flights quickly. The control panel was confusing; it was full of dials and switches, gauges all spilling out numbers. Between Clint and Natasha they could handle any sort of land, air or sea vehicles, their files were inches thick and in parts redacted almost completely in some parts. Now they were valuable assets. Steve had crashed a plane once, he couldn’t even drive. 

“Switching to live com, Hawkeye checking in.” 

“Thor, Prince of Asgard.” 

“Captain America checking in.” The radios were tiny, and yet the feed was so clear it was like standing next to them. 

The jolt of the helicopter lifting off always made his stomach dip. The rotor made the whole body vibrate before it reached cruising speed. Clint pulled them high into the afternoon sky tipping forwards and flying off to the East. 

“Black Widow’s report incoming:” Hawkeye said, the helmet obscuring him from view almost completely. “Five more civilian deaths, Iron Man is on the scene, Hulk and Black Widow ETA five minutes.” 

“Keep in contact as long as you can.” 

Steve wasn’t worried, no more than he ever was going on a mission, meaning there was always a small part of him that knew just how easy it was for everything to go wrong at any given moment. Thor aside the others were all fully mortal. Honour their choices. 

They arrived onto a scene of chaos, sirens were blaring all around the massive complex, wailing with a rising and falling pitch that seemed to indicate panic universally. The whole building was squat and completely uninteresting from the outside. It looked like any of the surrounding area’s buildings. Few windows, and a large loading bay attached to the side. This was the direction they approached from as it would probably offer the easiest access in a pinch. 

“It looks like we have arrived just in time.” Thor walked up to the gate and simply jumped over the seven foot fence, his red cape spilled out behind him like a banner and he landed gracefully for someone of his size. 

“Show off.” Clint hissed. He scaled the fence like one of those weasel things they had in Europe, twisting and wriggling through the barbed wire without too much trouble to land lightly on the other side himself. “Let’s go.” 

Steve looked at the fence. He probably couldn’t get through the barbed wire in the way Clint did, nor was he really sure he could do it the same way Thor did. He backed up a few meters, took a run at it and used the shield to clear the top of the barbed wire it scraped across the surface but was no match for vibranium, flipping in the air to land on the other side the whole fence rattling behind him. 

“The judges give it a six out of ten, better luck next time kid.” Hawkeye laughed, and he was sprinting towards the large loading bay doors. Thor clapped Steve on the back and took after Hawkeye at a loping pace. Steve took off after them resisting the urge to smile at their antics. Honestly. 

The door didn’t hold up under Thor’s hammer, he had no care for the privacy laws of mortals; there were giant lizards on the other side to be had.

The inside was pretty bland, lit orangey with emergency lighting and little else. It was a little anti-climactic actually, with all the sirens Steve had expected a little more from the inside. A few steps in and they all tensed as something in a doorway moved, but it was only a man. 

“Help, you’ve got to help.” The security guard was covered in blood, eyes wide and clutching a wound at his side which was painting his whole midsection in dark red. “They’ve escaped.” 

“We’ve come to help.” Steve said, trying for soothing holding out his free hand in a calming gesture. The man was obviously rapidly going into shock. “What can you tell us about the situation?” 

“Something, something is attacking.” He sagged against the wall, staring out past them to the ruined door. “I don’t know what happened. The quarantine systems failed to initiate, the power went down. They got Paul while we were investigating, they, they ripped him apart.” He said the last part softly like he wasn’t even sure himself of it. 

He pushed off the wall and towards the exit without looking back at them. Steve hoped he made it to safety. 

“Split up, we need to quarantine as much of the area as we can and subdue the threat, Hawkeye, see if you can get the systems to work.” If the man was right there was a way of closing off the area, the top priority was to stop any more from being released to the public.

“On it.” 

The building was a mess, the surface floor was mostly offices but something had been through here, there were drag marks on the floor, fresh blood browning around the edges with time. Something that had crawled out of into the air vent, the metal grating was pushed outwards as if it had been hit with something strong. He didn’t have a chance of following it, he would never fit inside the air vents. There wasn’t much else to be found on that level. There were a lot of computer terminals but he wouldn’t be able to get information out of any of them so he pressed onwards instead. 

While the building looked squat and boring from the outside the fire escape schematic he found on the wall indicated that the facility had many large basement levels. On emergency power none of the elevators he found were functioning, but he did find a door, the lock was no match for his foot when he kicked it in. The next locked door he hit the handle straight off with his shield and it opened nice and easy after that.

It was the first basement level were things got interesting. The walls were concrete wash, and the doors were larger less office more industrial. That was where Steve ran into the first creatures, they were short, stumpy and plated like turtles with an attitude problem, there was only two of them, not too bad odds. It crouched low when he stepped around the corner making a braying sort of sound to alert the other. Its tail came up and swishing behind it, the tail looked deadly, the end seemed to be made of knotted bone the rest thick and meaty; would probably pack quite a wallop if it hit him with it. The slightly smaller one was behind and it hissed at him. 

He threw the shield and it slammed right into the armoured head of the larger one. It staggered to the side, short stumpy legs giving under the pressure as it listed sideways. The shield banged low off the wall and flew back towards his knees where he caught it. The second one moved fast for its odd shape, jumping sideways and swinging at him with the ball. It slammed into the shield and the impact travelled all the way up his arm and he grit his teeth, lashing out with a swift kick to the creature’s sturdy head. 

“Report from Black Widow,” Hawkeye’s voice echoed a little down the line like he was standing in a large room. “They have almost dealt with the situation at the Empire State building. S.H.I.E.L.D. has dispatched transport; she’ll meet up with us as soon as she can. Iron Man and the Hulk are down.” 

“What happened?” Steve, kicked it again to keep it at distance, throat closing up in a small wave of acute panic, and slammed the edge of his shield right into its face. He didn’t have time for them.

“It seems the acid they spit got into the suit at close range, and disrupted the flight mechanisms. The Hulk was injured attempting to slow Iron Man’s fall.” 

Steve stamped on the other one’s head until it stopped moving. Worry made his stomach churn; he shouldn’t Tony after all was too stubborn to die. (But that hadn’t saved Peggy or Howard now had it?) Enemies both neutralized so he continued onwards. 

“Any luck with initiating the quarantine protocol?” He’d need to think about Tony later, the mission must always come first, there might be more survivors that needed his help.

“I have found a pocket of scientists in hiding, they informed me that the quarantine mechanism should have activated but as it should have triggered there was a problem with the power. The system needs to be reset basement level 3.” Thor joined the conversation. 

“On it.” Hawkeye replied. 

A few opened doors further down Steve found a few more scientists huddled in a corner; one of them was applying pressure to a leg wound from a rather pudgy middle aged man. There were three of them, two still in lab coats, one still even wearing plastic goggles. They were pressed as far into the back of the room as they could be, it looked like a break room of some sort, filled with low couches and first aid pack with its contents spilled across the floor in a trail leading to them. The woman let out a little shriek of fear when the door opened, but goggled with her mouth hanging open as Steve stood there in the doorway. 

“Who are you?” The heavy-set man snapped. He was pale and sweating, clinging to the reedy man. “This is a private facility. Leave now or face prosecution.”

“I can’t, you’re in danger.” Steve arched an eyebrow at him fully aware they could only see his mouth. “Will you tell me what happened here?” 

“That would be breaching so much contract law, we’re bound—“ 

“Shut up Ryan, just shut the fuck up.” The petite woman hissed, her thick make-up was running down her face in faint grey tracks and her pink lipstick was smeared at the edges. “Something like this was supposed to be impossible, who was the last to look at the security systems? The consultant from main branch; don’t you see we were fucking set up. All those live tests they have been having us do? Can you actually be that dumb?” He cowed before her, she turned her watery eyes on Steve, “Can you get us out of here? I’ll do anything, as long as you can get us out of here.”

“Are you’re always such a whore?” Ryan hissed back and she pulled herself further into the corner she was in, the third, a reedy thin man frowned looking shocked but said nothing. Now you should never talk that way to a lady, she was scared and Steve wished he had the time to stay with them. 

“You’ll be okay,” Steve said, mostly to her, “this room is secure and we’re working on initiating the quarantine procedure to contain the creatures, if you just hang tight, you’ll be okay.” 

“Please don’t leave us here.” She begged and Steve gave her a small encouraging smile. 

“I can’t, but stay here and you’ll be okay.” She didn’t look convinced but the reedy man touched her hand with his clean one and she looked at him and nodded slightly. 

“Okay, but help is on the way?” 

“I promise.” Steve nodded curtly and the portly man mumbled something foul under his breath that Steve chose to ignore. “Barricade the door behind me, and move something in front of the air vent, a backup team is en route.” 

He left them there, careful to close the door completely behind them. Once they were able to neutralize the threat S.H.I.E.L.D. cleaner teams would come in next. They would deal with the people and collect evidence. They crawled around when the Avengers were done like ants, each decked out in the issued black jump suit with a holstered side arm. They were the pinnacle of efficiency and Steve didn’t envy their job at all, they made fighting the big ones look like the easy part. Steve never had to think about convictions and evidence when he was fighting, it was always an almost-desperate mix of ‘don’t let anyone get hurt’ and try to stop Mr. Big-Bad of the week from tearing apart his city. 

He came upon an intersection, halls stretching out both right and left as far as he could see. He chose right and set off at a good clip, if he could locate more survivors and secure them then he would be happy. Hawkeye would be able to handle the quarantine alone and Thor would be more than happy to hammer his way through the escaped creatures. 

He was in a large sort of room; it looked like mass storage from large canisters, cement floor and unfinished walls. He was about to close the door and continue when something shifted, a slither on the very edge of his hearing. Steve paused, listening, eyes peering into the shadows cast by the canisters. There, something in the corner moved. He stepped into the room fully, to his left there was a few drops of blood, scattered with little tails which indicated that the person had been running when they dropped. 

He followed them and low down in the deepest part of the gloom one small shadow peeled away from the mass, scuttling off in the other direction near silent, just the faintest scrape of claws on the ground. He moved slowly towards the lumpy shape. It wore a dark blue cover-all stained darker with blood and ripped open around the abdomen, the faint light caught but only just enough to illuminate the soupy entrails that were ripped out and spilled across the floor. The face took the worst damage, almost completely obliterated, creatures going after the soft meat of the eyes and tongue. 

Steve swallowed, that had once been a man. Something shifted behind him, and he spun, shield coming up reflexively. 

Tiny knee-high lizards with frills spit a black sort of viscous mucous, it burned as it hit the cement floor around his feet, and they were aiming for his face. At least that explained what happened to the janitor. Tiny skeletons broke under his boots as he lashed out while he tried to avoid getting it all over himself but there were too many. It was slow going, they were fast but not well armoured, he could crush them with his boots if he could catch them but couldn’t afford to throw his shield because he needed to play defensively and avoid their spitting. It seemed more and more were melting out of the shadows trying to surround him. 

After what seemed like forever of kicking and stomping he’d managed to kill most of them, but not without being hit by their spit. The last one darted out of the way, in a fit of frustration he smashed it with his shield and it left a smear across the floor. Crude, but it worked. 

“Hawkeye, Thor, report.” He was breathing hard. His shoulders were sizzling, whatever their mucous contained was trying without luck to eat through his suit. More acid spit, a precursor to the flying ones perhaps? 

“I’m on the third basement level now looking for the computer mainframe, there are a lot of creatures on the loose down here. I just tangled with a massive snake in an air vent. I mean it. It was all motherfucking snakes on a motherfucking _plane_ up in here.” Clint said, sounding both irritated and deeply pleased. 

“I do not understand the reference.” Thor rumbled, Steve didn’t get it either. There was the sound of something large hitting something else large and probably meaty. Thor didn’t sound winded; a screech echoed through Thor’s channel and he growled back at it like the rumble of distant thunder. 

“Not cool dudes, such wit and no one to appreciate it.” Hawkeye sighed. 

“It wasn’t that funny.” Black Widow said her voice blank and sudden over the channel, “Black Widow checking in, I’m in the facility.” 

“Black Widow, report.” He didn’t want to think about how the words came out without him thinking about it panic welling up sharply once more from that place where he buried things he couldn’t think about. He’d initially been surprised at the very depth of that well. 

“Tony’s mostly fine, he’s not happy about the suit, but he’ll be okay. Bruce has been taken to the ER he’s got some cracked bones but he should be okay with time. The Hulk doesn’t stay down for long.” 

“Thank you.” The panic went, leaving behind in its place a profound sense of relief.

“I have found a pocket of those creatures we fought before, but these are different they are larger and much more playful.” Thor responded sounding more amused than grim. Something shrieked with anger and it echoed through the facility setting off a series of replies that came across all of the communication channels. 

“It looks like they are scattered across the facility.” Steve had heard them from further on down the hall he was already in, and he continued in that direction. 

“Hawkeye, I’ve found the security centre, if you reset the power I can make sure the facility seals itself. The hack in the quarantine protocols were childish at best.” Black Widow replied. 

“I’ve found it, just,” Something clanged loud and metallic. “There I’m inside.” 

“Don’t initiate until Thor is clear.” Steve commanded, and something snapped its beak at him from the left, he jumped back against a door to avoid the sharp edge but the door gave way spilling him into an empty room. He hit the ground hard, jarring against his tailbone but there wasn’t time to worry about it. He grit his teeth and scooted backward as it followed him, large and feathery like a bird with strong powerful looking legs. Another one attacked from the side and he ducked behind the shield allowing it to take the force of the attack and using it as cover to get his feet under him. 

“I will be fine.” Thor replied. 

“Initiate.” Steve said as the creature lunged at him again, beak glancing off the shield once more. The second one going the offensive from his flank and their beaks grabbed and pulled at his uniform, it didn’t tear but his skin was bruising under the force. 

“Roger.” Hawkeye and Black Widow answered him in tandem. The emergency lights that flooded everything in and orangey glow sputtered and everything went dark for a moment. The metal doors swung closed with a clang as the lights turned back on. 

Steve rolled sideways, swinging his shield at the same time one of them lunged he pushed back with all the strength in his shoulders knocking it back, it toppled with a thump and he punched the other one across it’s small head sending it flying sideways. He hit it in the long neck with the edge of his shield. There was a loud crack, he threw the chair in the room at the other while it was still trying to get its feet under it for another attack, and it got tangled in the legs and fell a flopping pile of feathers. He broke its neck with his boot. If he were Iron Man or Hawkeye this would be time for the witty one-liner, only he was drawing a blank. It was probably best not to even try. 

“S.H.I.E.L.D cleaning crew ETA twenty minutes.” Black Widow said quietly. We’ll clear the quarantined sections one by one to extract the civilians.” 

“That will be more than enough time.” Thor bellowed and there was a piercing screech from his line, and Steve smiled to himself he did have to wonder how many a ‘pocket’ was to Thor but he wasn’t worried about him. He was more than capable of taking care of many even on his own. You sort of had to be envious of an immortal thunder god. 

Steve sat on top of the desk in the room, sketching with some paper and a pen he found for twenty minutes with the bodies of two dead bird creatures. He listened to Clint and Natasha playing some kind of code word game for awhile before he tuned them out to concentrate on his sketching. 

He sketched the shape of the arc reactor, or what he thought it looked like from what he could see through Tony’s clothes, Tony didn’t share the change room with them, he was more than capable of putting on the suit over his clothes if required. He’d since found out that it kept Tony’s heart intact since it had been damaged somehow. Bruce would of course heal fast enough, he healed faster almost than Steve himself, and would probably be more than happy to take injury leave to focus on his research instead of moping around like Steve did when he couldn’t go on missions.

Coulson came on the communications channel first, in twenty minutes exactly, from the clean-up attempt and Steve very carefully didn’t ask about Tony. He was beginning to see where the others were might be getting ideas from. They were going to use body heat to locate the survivors and put down the remaining creatures. Steve was glad he could keep his promise. 

~~

Tony was sulking about the suit. Or about something else entirely, it was difficult with him to tell these kinds of things. Steve wanted to give up on him because Tony was infuriating at best and openly hostile at worst, most of the time made no sense at all. He was mostly sure that Tony did it on purpose, worked in obscure references in left and right just to confuse Steve. He’d been sulking around head quarters all morning, always one step ahead in avoiding Steve. It was infuriating, he’d look high and low and find that each time he had just missed Tony. Tony had to be using the internal security against him, that would make sense, Steve was a little miffed that Tony would rather hack into the security feed than talk to him.

“Can we talk about this?” Steve finally cornered him near the canteen. He’d caught him on a mixture of luck and tactical planning, after all Tony couldn’t resist the little Starbucks tucked into the corner any more than he could live without breathing. 

“No. We can’t.” Tony said. He was still all bruised from essentially falling off the Empire State building, the skin around his temples a mix of pale purples and darker hues like watercolour. The rest of the damage was hidden behind his blazer and jeans; impossible to see the extent of his injuries. 

“Would you stop acting like a child?” If Tony wasn’t ducking out of the area as soon as Steve approached he was simply refusing to acknowledge him. 

“I am not acting like a child; I’m far too old for that. Also you can stop whatever you’re doing or _whatever_ \-- I don’t like it and I don’t need it.” Tony glared at him, spun on his heels and began down the hall in the other direction; coffee quest forgotten or at least put on hold. It should have been comforting to know that there was something Tony wouldn’t do for coffee. 

“Wait, Tony.” Steve grabbed for his elbow and Tony froze. 

“Don’t touch me.” He shrugged him off. “I don’t care what you had with my mother, because first, ew, second, _really ew_ , and third, she never meant to have me and I don’t need a step-daddy now, my family issues are way more than enough already, I don’t need your input.” 

“It’s not like-“ Steve was cut off by a sort of wheezing sound. Clint stepped out from a corner, Natasha like a particularly pretty shadow just behind his shoulder, her elbow firmly planted in his ribs but that didn’t stop him. 

“That’s what you did?” Clint blinked at him, “That’s just, I didn’t even _think_ of that. That’s really fucked up I hope you know.”

Natasha hissed something low at him before dragging him away by the bicep, and Tony flinched obviously when the only thing they could hear sounded like milk? Milf? Steve could only assume it wasn’t very polite. 

“I need to be, somewhere else. Badly.” Tony nodded at him and took off, sauntering down the hall with a wiggle of his fingers over his shoulder. His hand tensed with the urge to punch the wall instead he hissed his frustration like a kettle. Why couldn’t Tony just understand what this meant to him? It wasn’t a joke.

He knew he should have seen this coming, what had everyone told him, over and over? Tony wasn’t the man he wanted him to be. Tony wasn’t Peggy, Tony never was Peggy. His eyes were large and dark and looked like hers, but he had only ever been Tony Stark. And Tony Stark was not to be trusted. 

~~ 

Tony showed up unexpectedly for the next film night. Steve was sitting on the couch, Natasha was rubbing something soothing on his shoulder which she had been the one to twist awkwardly as she brought him down in training earlier that day. Steve had the weight advantage, but she was fast and vicious and wouldn’t pull her punches for him.

“We’re watching Finding Nemo.” Tony declared, (‘You’re fucking kidding me,’ from Clint’s corner on the new couch, not yet stained with Bruce spilling his coffee after he put it down and promptly forgot it was there) “and if you disagree with that, you’re going to need to fight Pepper.” Clint shut up when Natasha levelled a look at him. Pepper and Natasha seemed to have formed some sort of oestrogen clique centred around a love of designer shoes and the ability to wrangle Tony like Rodeo stars, and if anyone had anything to say about it, well they held their tongue lest Natasha cut it out. 

“I’ve had a hell of a week, thanks.” She smiled gratefully, and she did look tired skin looking pallid under the light makeup she wore. She sat down on the other side of Natasha, kicking off her heels so she was sandwiched comfortably in between the other woman and the arm of his couch. Tony pouted at her visibly before he went and curled up against Thor’s ever-present sprawl instead. 

“What is this tale of Nemo? Where has he gone?” Thor looked down at him, eyebrows drawn together. 

“Well that’s the point, hence, Finding Nemo, he’s lost. It’s an adventure flick. It’s also Pepper’s favourite. You’ll like it. And it’s rated PG so Cap won’t be scandalized by any more titties.” 

Steve tied to sink into the couch, it was only the one time and he hadn’t seen it coming. He needed time to mentally prepare for that kind of thing. Everyone had an Achilles-heel; he just hoped their enemies never found out lest all hell break loose. Topless fights in Time’s Square would be a nightmare. “I thought we were not mentioning that anymore.” He said lightly. 

“Just play the film.” Clint yawned huge and obviously faked; Bruce was sliding his fingers along his tablet, the glow reflecting off his glasses like shades dancing in front of his eyes. 

“I’ve never seen it.” He said, looking up at them before returning to his work. With his two cents added to the discussion he made it pretty obvious he had no more to say about it. There was a pretty even chance he would keep working through the film. Still he made an effort to be here and that made all the difference in Steve’s mind. The cracked ribs didn’t seem to hinder his movements much, he’d been ginger for awhile at first, but he seemed fit enough now. 

Tony pulled out his phone, held it up to the tv and tapped at it for a little while. “Are you hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D’s mainframe to play a film on our tv?” Natasha asked him with an arched eyebrow, this close up the edges of her mouth were lifting, she looked amused despite her best efforts. As if she was impressed.

“I wouldn’t call it hacking, I wrote the security protocol, it’s like a lock-smith picking a lock— with the master key.” The screen flicked and came to life. “Et voila.” 

The film was a little silly, but Pepper made sort of purring happy noises, and Natasha was combing her fingers through Pepper’s hair now, probably getting the greasy sharp-smelling stuff that she had finished massaging into his shoulder all in Pepper’s bright ginger hair. Still neither of them seemed to mind it, and Clint shot him finger guns with a wink that got a severe and rude gesture from Natasha in return. 

Tony and Bruce were in their own little bubble of artificial light, the screen of Bruce’s pad mingling with something small and blue that Tony was manipulating between his fingers making it spin by twisting his wrists. Thor seemed mostly bemused by the film completely unbothered by the two beside him. 

This felt like some sort of progress, towards what he wasn’t sure. Progress none the less. Steve tried not to be happy. He did. It didn’t work. 

When the credits rolled and everyone was drifting away, Clint grabbing Bruce by the elbow as he almost walking into the door frame without looking up, correcting his course and letting him go without a word passed between them. Tony offered his arm to Pepper, Steve went to follow him, if you had an opening press it until something spills. A valid tactical approach. He’d been unable to corner Tony again once he’d wised up to Steve staking out the coffee.

He followed them all the way down the hall, coming close enough to make out Pepper’s throaty tones. 

“There, see, I went with you, stop being so childish. Nothing happened.” Pepper’s voice was soft and fond, and Steve froze just around the corner. There was little difference between eavesdropping and reconnaissance. Some habits die hard. Make no mistake this was a skirmish and he wasn’t going to go in unarmed. 

“Why do people keep calling me that, it’s not fair, I’m not childish, I’m a genius, geniuses –geniusii?- are acceptably eclectic. You don’t see anyone complaining about Banner’s tendency to write all over himself like a walking etch-a-sketch.” 

“Because you’re like a child. An oversexed, over-stimulated child, and I don’t have time to run interference for you whenever you have a disagreement with your friends.” 

“Team, they are a team, not my team, _a_ team-- but not the A-team.” 

“Tony,” Pepper hissed, “behave okay? It’s not my job to run your life for you anymore. You’re going to have to figure it out on your own some day.” The doors opened and their conversation was too muffled to continue to listen as they entered the elevator. 

~~ 

“I am going to ask Tony Stark to be on the team full time.” Steve opened the conversation. Nick Fury sighed and put down his sandwich, something large and full of lettuce. Steve hoped that by ambushing him during lunch, (S.H.I.E.L.D agents were trained out of ever letting their guard down, but worth a shot) he could make his point. Also, he was finding the canteen made for an optimal ambush point. 

“Do you ever let things drop?” He looked up at Steve and Steve sort of shrugged. 

“It’s a bit of a habit.” Steve sort of smiled, he had a long history of bad ideas and refusing to listen to what people told him about them- no matter how many times. He hadn’t felt quite like himself since he woke up, but in that moment he felt like he was on fire. He was lying to officials again; he was going behind enemy lines because Bucky might be there. It was such a small thing, but it felt like he was doing something _right_. “I feel that tactically it is a sound decision.” He’d come to realize that what was between him and Tony didn’t matter, what mattered was what Tony brought to the team and the way they all saw him. 

“Against the better judgement of all of S.H.I.E.L.D?” 

“They are my team and my responsibility, sir.” Because they were, as oddly miss-matched and completely haphazard as they seemed. In the films those were the teams that worked best. Besides, it worked once, Steve couldn’t see why it wouldn’t work again. The world may have slipped out from under him like someone pulling a rug but people _people_ didn’t change. 

“Are you saying you’re prepared to take responsibility for Tony Stark?” Fury wiped his mouth a napkin. “Greater men than you have failed and run away screaming from Stark’s irresponsibly.” 

“I am going to ask him on the team.” Steve repeated, confident now. He’d wanted this from the beginning for all the wrong reasons. Now he still wanted it, but for all the right reasons.

Fury sighed and rubbed his head. “Fine, do whatever the fuck you want about Stark. He’s yours now.” 

Steve could feel his face heat a little. Would everyone stop making jokes like that? It was a little uncomfortable, Steve realized that things were different now but _still_ some of Clint’s jokes were just scandalous. He wasn’t interesting in Tony that way. 

“You’re not going to regret this.” Steve smiled at him. 

“Oh. I _know_ I will.” Fury sighed. 

~~ 

Tony was working; well he was sitting on the floor cross-legged next to his discarded tie, playing with that blue sort of thing between his fingers. It didn’t look the most comfortable, but Tony didn’t give any indication of finding this odd at all, or like he needed to find a chair. 

“Tony?” 

“Hm?” Tony looked up at him, sort of sideways and upside down. 

“What’s going on up there?” Tony greeted him, and Steve still wasn’t entirely sure what to say when people asked him that, he’s at least figured out that they were not talking about something being actually up, but a semi-rhetorical greeting. In this case he might mean it literally as opposed the the quick ‘what’s up’ or ‘what’s shaking’ he’d normally use. Informal enough that Steve didn’t know many other people who even said it aside from Tony. 

Instead of answering him Steve sat down next to him, sliding down the wall until he was sitting with his legs out in front of him so that Tony’s knee was just brushing the edge of his thigh. Purposeful incursion into Tony’s personal space. 

“What’s that?” He nodded at the little blue things. 

“This is a new toy I cooked up the idea for years ago using bits of other tech I have floating around the house. It’s too expensive for mass producing, but it keeps the investors satisfied. It’s like your laptop or Bruce’s ipad, it’s connected to my home network via a souped up Bluetooth and it uses the sensors attached to the tips of my fingers to monitor movement and project the hologram when my hands come together.” Tony splayed his fingers, moving them apart and the structure vanished completely. “The coding is sort of glitch-y, but I was lazy and took most of it from my workshop interface programming. Sue me.” He shrugged lazily. “Did you understand any of that?”

“That you are really smart?” Steve smiled tentatively. 

Tony grinned at him. “You catch on quick boy-o.” 

“It’s really neat.” Steve couldn’t help it, it was really something. Tony was like something out of a sci-fi novel in a world that was already almost completely unimaginable still pushing the limits of what Steve’s common sense told him was possible. “What are you doing here anyways?” 

“Hiding from Natasha and her hit squad.” His mouth quirked a little and his eyes shone. 

“You’re lying.” 

Tony looked surprised. “You really do catch on fast. You used to believe everything I said.” 

“You and Clint gave me a lot of practice.” Steve sighed heavily. Tony grinned impishly at him, completely and totally unrepentant. 

“Oh baby, but who gave it to you better?” Tony’s eyebrows wiggled in a totally ridiculous fashion that Steve couldn’t help but find amusing. 

“So was there a reason for you to interrupt my break? I was trying to make twitter three-dimensional. It’s not going so well.”

“There was something I want to talk to you about.” 

Tony stiffened, turning away for a moment before he let out a quiet sigh and sort of melted back against the wall. “Yeah? Well shoot.” Tony sounded as if someone was actually about to shoot him for all the dread he could pack into his voice. It was a little mean but as long as Tony was looking away Steve could smile a little. At least he hadn’t bolted for the door this time. 

“I wanted to formally ask you onto the Avengers Initiative, as Tony Stark and as Iron Man.” He’d planned it a little differently in his imagination. Ideally they wouldn’t have been sitting on the ground in a break room, fluorescent lights humming over head quietly. He’d take what he could get. Some of the best moments in his life were spent in frozen forests bickering with his best friend after all. 

Tony stared at him, eyebrows drawing together and mind racing behind his startlingly clear eyes. 

“I told you I don’t play well with others, I don’t follow orders well.” Understatement of the year. “Volatile and self-absorbed also made the list if I remember correctly. Also I blew up a race track once, on international television. Wasn’t _really_ my fault.”

“Teamwork isn’t about following my orders to the letter Tony,” Steve wasn’t the best at that himself, “it’s about catching Natasha when she jumps off of things to get the perfect angle, and it’s about playing with Hulk while we wait for him to calm down, it’s about bringing Pepper to film night and staying with us when you hate it.” 

“Hives.” Tony stood up suddenly, shaking out his hands like he had been given a sudden jolt. 

“Touchy-feely conversations give me hives. I feel like I need to step on a kitten to right the balance in my life now. Thanks. How do you feel about that? The responsibility of knowing you made me murder a kitten.” 

Tony paced a quick circuit. “Whole creepy team building exercises aside, far, far aside, Fury would never ever agree to this.” 

“He has his reservations about your... behaviour,” Steve smiled up at Tony, “it would help if you didn’t try to get him mad every time you spoke.” 

“Life’s little pleasures Steve.” Tony tapped a quick beat against his chest, presumably touching the arc reactor there. 

“But he agrees with me that you’re indispensible as part of the team.” It would probably be better if Tony never found out exactly what Fury said. “So you’re in if you want it.” 

“I’ll need time to think about it, I think this is going to push my insurance in some sort of way, which is for my team of highly trained pet accountants to figure out.” Tony pushed his hands through his hair making it stick up. He rocked on his heels, pinning Steve in place with a look. “Why? Note, your motivation won’t change my mind, I’m just curious. It’s my parents isn’t it?”

“I...” Shame settled heavy in his stomach. The hypocrisy of it was staggering “when we first met it was. You looked so much like her, your eyes are the same.” ‘Genetics’ Tony mumbled. He’d drawn those eyes so many times before that his fingers knew the movements from muscle memory alone. He’d stopped drawing Peggy after he woke up, but seeing Tony had defeated the purpose and he’d drawn a portrait of her just for himself. “I always figured she got on with her life, but I just never thought it would be Howard.” Tony was getting that desperate awkward look again, which was okay because despite all the questions he could ask, Steve found he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “I think that’s enough, still curious?”

“Not at all. I’ve got things to do, important things. So I’ll see you around.” 

Steve should be glad that Tony stuck through as much of that as he did. Tony paused by the door without turning around, voice pulling Steve out of his thoughts. “She told me all about you, they both did, that was the only time I ever really saw them together was when Peggy would tell me stories and Howard, Dad, would come in and add details.” 

Tony left. 

Steve should probably get off the floor at some point, instead he let his head rest against the wall and thought about what Tony said. He felt happy and sad about it all at once. He didn’t like to imagine that Peggy was ever unhappy, but she hadn’t forgot him. Had she thought about him as much as he’s thought about her? He hadn’t been lying, it wasn’t entirely about Peggy or Howard or even fondue. 

It was about living in the future and not going insane. 

~~ 

_He wasn’t sure about this_. He’d been thinking about it all day. To Clint it had been an off-hand comment, he took to needling Steve about Tony whenever Tony wasn’t there to defend his own honour. Still. The internet would know. Steve hadn’t run into something that he internet couldn’t help him with in some way yet. Life marched on, Tony hadn’t given him an answer yet and Steve didn’t want to pressure him for one. He could only try and be there as much as he could. He’d inspired an entire nation during a war, but Tony was a little more complicated than that. 

He opened a new google search, arrow hovering over the ask-box. He had closed it last time. Most of Tony’s life was public domain. How was this worse than anything he looked up before? Huffing Steve typed in his question before he could stop himself again. 

‘Does Tony Stark date men?’ 

There were photos. Of course there were photos. Steve probably should have been glad there wasn’t video. Tony was young in this one, lips full and red like they had been rouged, he was whip-thin and being more or less held up by his companion who was sporting a matching just-kissed expression. Tony was giving the camera both middle fingers and he looked wild and manic in a way that was startlingly familiar despite the ridiculous haircut. Dear god, Tony would have been a demon when he was younger, chewing people up and spitting them out just as easily. 

Well it was an answer at the very least. The next photo wasn’t so innocent, there were hands everywhere and their faces were hidden against each other’s shoulders, but it was still obviously Tony’s wild black hair. 

“Knock knock.” Steve closed the browser clumsily and quickly feeling his ears burn.

Bruce gave him a pointed look but said nothing and Steve could feel his face slowly heating up to match. It was like he’d been caught doing something completely depraved. He’d just been curious. They stressed that these kinds of things were okay in the future. 

“We’re bringing Thor to the Chinese buffet—you’re not going to want to miss this.” He smiled and Steve laughed. “And we might need you when it goes all goes wrong. You know it will, I know it will Clint and Tony know it will-- they are all giddy like a couple of school boys.”

“Okay, just let me get changed.” Steve nodded, didn’t point out that Bruce needed to eat amazing amounts of food too to keep his accelerated metabolism going strong. 

They took three of Tony’s cars, Steve sat in the massive boxy one (it reminded him of eras gone by and the cars he used to know that moved so slowly and drove around the Hollywood superstars) it had a driver, and Pepper sitting in the back with him. It also went a lot more safely than the car driven by Tony, Thor sitting in the passenger seat grinning widely as the wind played through his hair Bruce was in the back looking like he was trying hard not to enjoy himself. 

Natasha drove the other car, something small and sleek and red, Clint was in the passenger seat, egging her on as her and Tony slipped in between taxis and raced through the heart of New York City. 

“Happy.” Pepper tapped the back of his seat, leaning forwards. 

“Ma’am.” He looked at them in the rear-view. Pepper turned to Steve and offered him a smile that seemed nothing like the usually blank sort of smile she gave him. “Really?” 

“Oh yes. Hold tight Mr. Rogers. Happy, see if you can’t beat them there, Tony always forgets to factor the city traffic.”

“Mrs. Potts!” Steve hissed as the car accelerated, taking a hard right away from the path the other two were taking. 

“Call me Pepper while we’re doing something ridiculous.” She said simply, like these kinds of things were normal.

Steve double checked his seat belt was secured. They were weaving in and out of traffic, and navigating what seemed like an endless maze of streets with one-way signs. “Sometimes it’s actually fun to play Tony’s games with him, but you didn’t hear it from me.” 

“That’s the boss lady for you.” Happy grinned at them in the rear view. 

Steve wasn’t sure what to think about their relationship. Pepper didn’t seem like Tony’s girl, but Steve wasn’t an expert on these things. “Do you think we can win? They were pretty far ahead.” The car turned another corner, pulling ahead of a family car smoothly. 

“Tony will take the direct route there without thinking about the traffic, Natasha wants everyone to think she’s perfect, but she’s not going to let him out of her sight, it’s a competition, so she will take the same route as him. Happy, on the other hand, is better than any GPS when it comes down to it. So we win.” 

“I can see why Tony says he can’t live without you.” Steve said and both Happy and Pepper snorted. 

“Tony says he can’t live without twinkies either.” Pepper tutted at him, “he never says anything he means. Not unless he’s under extreme duress.” 

“Can I ask you a question?” 

“Is it about Tony?” She was still politely smiling at him, but dames were scary that way. Peggy could threaten him while smiling all the time. 

“I... upset him. I need to ask him about something, but he’s a little sensitive about it.” 

“Usually for good reason.” She was looking at him hard now, like if she just squinted she could read all his secrets. If you listened to Tony’s ramblings, Pepper’s superpower was in her eyes and Steve was beginning to see why he’d say something like that. 

Alarm bells went off in his head, klaxons letting him know he was treading on thin ice. He always knew when he was upsetting a woman but that didn’t help him at all when it came to making them happy again. Pepper seemed to like him, but even if she wasn’t Tony’s girl, she was his friend all the same. “He won’t tell me.” Steve admitted. 

“The gala, you were talking with Tony at the gala.” She snapped her fingers. “He was weird after that.” 

“I told him the truth about something, I don’t know what I did wrong but he’s been upset about it since I just don’t understand.” They both swayed as the car took a corner probably a little faster than it should have. 

“Oh Steve,” Pepper tapped his arm with one neatly trimmed nail, “no one understands Tony, Tony doesn’t always understand Tony. What did you tell him?”

“You know I was in the war with his father?” She nodded, “well, I was in the war with his mother too, his real mother, we, I loved her.” 

“And now?” Pepper was looking at him, it wasn’t unkind, but it wasn’t sympathetic either. It was calm and assessing and almost like the way the dinosaurs had been looking at him. Neither hungry nor predatory, simply assessing-- looking for weaknesses. 

“I will always love her, she was an amazing woman.” It was the truth, yet it didn’t sting as much as usual. Like all the time he’d spent thinking-not thinking about it had helped. “I want to ask Tony about her.” So badly, “but I can see it hurts him.” 

Pepper was quiet for a while, just looking at him. Happy tactfully didn’t say anything, the only sound was the faint hum from the engine and the quiet shift of Steve trying not to squirm in his seat. “Tony can be hard to get along with, zip it,” Pepper snapped at him when he opened his mouth to defend Tony, “I know this better than anyone else. Don’t let him think you do it because of his parents, he’s a little touchy on the subject. And don’t tell him I told you. He’s got a heart under that arc reactor and he’s not as invulnerable as he’d like you to believe. ” 

“Aren’t we all?” Steve didn’t break eye contact, she was looking for something. Whatever it was Pepper seemed content with his answer crossing and uncrossing her long legs in one silky slide like a nervous twitch-- that Steve resolutely didn’t watch. 

“Keeps us human.” She agreed. “Are we almost there?” 

“A little further.” Happy replied. The silence was only a little awkward. Steve shifted around a little more, dwelling on what she said. He’d figured that much out on his own, but it was nice to hear it from someone who knew Tony better. 

They won and Tony’s face when he pulled up to find Pepper and Steve leaning against the front of the car in the parking lot was priceless. Natasha entered the parking lot from the other entrance at about the same time, the roar of the tiny car’s engine loud in the silence. She looked at them, most of her expression hidden by the wind screen with the exception of the irritated press of her lips, but Clint was laughing head tipped back and sun picking out the golden highlights in his hair. 

“How?” Tony crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Happy. “That’s not a rocket car.” 

“Skill Mr. Stark.” Happy gave a little bow. 

“A most just victory Son of Happy.” Tony coughed while Happy tried to find a way to explain to all six foot something solid muscle of Thor that his name didn’t work that way. Steve was _certain_ that Thor was doing it on purpose now to mess with them. “Let us feast to your honour.” 

Easily distracted Tony threw an arm around Thor’s shoulders. “Right, buddy you are going to fucking love this.” 

“Mr. Rogers, I think you forgot something.” Steve spun on his heels following the driver back to the car as the rest of the group moved towards the large double doors and gaudy golden dragon entrance. Steve was pretty sure he had everything, but he had lost three mobiles already so it wasn’t impossible. 

“Thanks, what is it?” 

“Listen, not many people try with Tony, I don’t care why you did it, only that you did. He likes you. Don’t fuck it up.” Happy poked him in the chest, winced and shook out his hand. “I can’t believe I just said that to Captain America.” 

Steve couldn’t help the nervous smile, “I’m glad he has people like you and Mrs. Potts with him. Let’s go eat.” He was only a little jealous that Tony had people like that.

He did feel a little bad about the face the lady who ran the place made when she saw how much him and Thor were putting away (not to mention Banner who was slowly and steadily eating more than a man his size should ever be able to). The plates were slowly piling up making tiny towers of gaudy floral printed glassware. She said something low and angry sounding in another language to the girl next to her and Tony replied to both of them in the same language, the edges of his lips quirking in the usual devil-may-care smile. She glared at him fiercely despite the top of her head barely reaching Thor’s elbow all the same. She left them alone after that. 

Steve tried to feel guiltier about how much he was eating and the scene they were making but the food was delicious even if he wasn’t sure what he was eating. It was just the right balance between greasy and savoury and he couldn’t help himself as he shovelled more rice into his mouth and chased it with the little breaded chicken balls. Bruce declined using the chop sticks because ‘they irritated him’. Tony met his eyes across the table, perfectly able to use the sticks to eat with, and smiled. Steve didn’t even want to try eating with sticks when there were perfectly good forks and spoons. 

“What is this?” Steve said, swallowing thickly and going for another fork-full. 

“Mostly MSG and grease.” Tony shrugged at the same time Bruce said, “lemon chicken.” and Clint said, “the crushed spirit of real Chinese food.” 

Steve wasn’t quite closer to understanding Tony but he might have been closer to understanding what he wanted from him after spending the day just being with the team and laughing about tales long past. Tony left a tip amidst the piles of discarded plates that would more than cover even what Thor managed to eat. 

~~

He stared at his wardrobe and frowned thoughtfully. Dinner with Tony could mean anything from street-meat from a grubby looking man in a beat up chip-truck to designer boutique restaurants that charge more than Steve is willing to think about (he understands inflation, what he doesn’t understand highway robbery). Effortlessly and chameleon-like Tony could wear the same thing to both and still look like he belonged wherever he wanted too. 

Steve went for a t-shirt and cardigan that had appeared on his door-step with a brief and comically impersonal note from Natasha as if she was embarrassed to have picked something up for him while shopping. It was nice and soft, like being wrapped in his favourite blanket from his childhood. He loved it, and even tried to thank Natasha for it which she accepted with grumpy ill-grace lips pressed into a tight line and arms crossed defensively over her chest. 

Hopefully it would hold up under whatever sort of night Tony had planned. 

Later, Steve would realize that with Tony it was simply impossible to plan for what he was going to do. He sat there awkwardly, the girls sat to either side of him were obviously twins, or looked enough alike that they could get away with the deception. Tony knew them (well he kept calling them by the wrong names, but they didn’t seem to mind so they at least knew him.)

The restaurant was glitzy, glamorous in such an obvious way that it became gaudy and bordering on tasteless. Steve preferred the smaller sort of cosy hole-in-the-wall restaurants that didn’t mind plying him with mountains of greasy food (it was the kind of place he liked before he was able to eat the greasy mountains of food). This kind of place was alright, the sort of place you’d picture people like Tony spending their free time, but the food portions were small and had strange names. The atmosphere left him more stressed than relaxed like he was about to commit some fatal social faux-pas at any moment and be struck down by the overly efficient and but not very friendly waiter. 

“Are you enjoying yourself Steve? Ladies, have I ever told you what a fantastic man Steve is? Saves kittens from burning buildings and looks like a roman statue shirtless.” Tony winked at him and Steve could feel himself flushing, the girls laughed. “Lots of kittens.” Tony added. 

“Shut up Mr. Stark.” Steve hissed at him, embarrassed. Tony grinned at him and tipped his head at the two girls. 

“He’s so shy, it’s cute.” Tony mocked him. 

“It’s endearing.” Becky cooed. “Very.” Jessica agreed with him. Steve really wished they _wouldn’t_. It was still embarrassing, and their shirts were really very revealing, it was difficult to keep his eyes from accidentally straying to dangerous places. 

Dinner had been awkward and there were just hanging around drinking, well getting the girls drunk. Tony had an iron liver and Steve couldn’t get drunk on anything less than pure petrol. Tony had to realize that it wasn’t comfortable, but he didn’t seem to care. Steve played with the cuff of his cardigan and reminded himself about the Chinese buffet and how much nicer that had been. 

“Another bottle.” Tony flagged the waiter. He didn’t specify another bottle of what, but the man nodded and ducked away anyways. 

“Really?” Steve frowned. 

“Not having a good time? Amanda and umm... Chastity? They are going to be disappointed in you Steve.” Tony sort of sulked at him, bottom lip sticking out comically. 

“I didn’t mean it that way.” Steve smiled at Jessica first and then Becky, trying to apologize to the girls. He hadn’t been good at this when it was him and Bucky either. “It’s just been a very long day and I’m tired.” 

“Oh.” Tony’s pout vanished into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I see, you are right it has been a busy kitten saving kind of day.” 

“Yeah.” Steve tried to smile back at Tony. 

“I can take you back, even heroes need their beauty sleep.” Tony sort of shrugged liquidly in response looking somewhere over his shoulder for something, fingers beginning to tap on the table in a familiar fast-paced rhythm. 

“Oh, time to go already, it’s so early.” Jessica touched his arm, impossibly long nails resting against the softness of his sweater; for some reason only the very tips were painted white while the rest of it was just pale pink it looked alright if a little only half finished. “That’s not like you Tony.” 

“I need to get Steve here home in one piece.” He stood, lifting his jacket as the new bottle appeared at their table. “I trust you can handle that, ladies?” He nodded at the waiter, who if he was surprised didn’t show it. 

“What, now?” Steve hadn’t meant they should leave that instant, just he didn’t want to have to sit through another whole bottle’s worth of aimless tittering conversation. 

“Why not?” Tony signed the bill the waiter discreetly handed to him without even looking at it. “The night is young, and we need to get gramps into bed.” 

“Tony.” Steve sighed, following him out of the restaurant to wait for the valet to go and get their car. “Hey, I had a good time tonight.” He bumped his shoulder against Tony’s to get him to stop looking quite so put out, and it wasn’t a lie. He enjoyed spending time with Tony he enjoyed it a lot. It just would have been better if it was just the two of them. He always felt like he was one miss-step away from disaster with girls, and living in the future hadn’t changed that. Except for when Natasha told him coldly ‘there wasn’t time for that old-fashioned chivalry.’ 

“Really?” Tony was playing with something on his phone. “You didn’t seem like it.” 

“I never did well with dames.” Steve admit with a small smile. 

“You did fine with my mother.” Tony continued to mess with his phone, refusing to look up at Steve. And _this_ was how they were going to have this conversation? Standing outside of a restaurant waiting on a valet, surrounded by the oily puddles reflecting the lights all around them. 

Steve took a deep breath, letting it go softly before he spoke, “Peggy was a special woman, and she didn’t mind when I didn’t know what I was doing.” 

“ _Oh god._ ” Tony closed his phone and stared at him aghast, “my mother took Captain America’s virginity. There is so much wrong with that statement I can’t even, I don’t know if I want to be proud or horrified right now-- I hope you know.” 

Steve could feel himself turning bright red, face glowing with heat and shame. “That isn’t what I meant at all. I meant that I’m glad I got to spend time with you, it’s just hard to relax when girls are wearing, _that_.” 

Tony seemed to find this hysterical, still giggling much to Steve’s continued embarrassment as the valet pulled up to the curb with Tony’s car. He seemed either not to notice or not care that Steve was having trouble dealing with this right now. Similarly the valet didn’t seem to find Tony’s behaviour unusual. “I don’t actually want to go home yet if there was somewhere else you want to go?” Steve asked quietly. 

“Do you think you’d actually explode if I brought you to a strip club?” Tony mimed an explosion with his fingers and Steve dearly hoped he didn’t need to find out. “Let’s just drive around, take a look at New York, you still need to get out more.” 

“That sounds great.” Steve smiled at Tony as they both slipped into the car. 

There had to have been some point between A and B, some turning point where Steve should have seen this coming, could have prepared for it. He was brilliant at tactics, at making attack plans and defensive plans, for understanding the enemy. Somehow he should have been prepared for this. Logically there had to be a point where this all spun radically out of control. Yet, it didn’t. It felt like everything he said and did was leading to this, there wasn’t a wrong turn, just the slow crawl of eventuality. 

‘I should go,’ It had been really late by this point but the city that never slept was wide awake and vibrant outside the windows of Tony’s car, inside was lit by the glow of the dashboard and the street lights outside. 

‘Do you want to?’ Tony smiled like the devil himself, but Steve still hadn’t realized it was a loaded question. 

‘Not really, but you need to sleep.’ Steve had said, and he hadn’t meant it as a dare. 

‘Sleep is for the weak.’ Tony had said this with such conviction that Steve was tempted to believe him. They had eventually ended up back at Stark tower, and somewhere been then and now things between them went from a slow burn to gunpowder flash. Steve was still trying to keep up with it. 

Tony was pressed up against him, from thighs up to his shoulders, one hand along the back of Steve’s neck pulling him down so they could kiss. He tasted like the doughnuts they had picked up from some kid working the night shift while driving around watching the lights of the city play off the high gloss of the paint on the bonnet of Tony’s ridiculously pretty car.

Steve was leaning back against the wall and letting it take their combined weight, spreading his thighs a little so he didn’t need to bend his neck so far for Tony to reach. “This is so wrong.” Tony whispered against his mouth, eyes huge and glassy-looking in the semi-darkness. 

“What?” Not the most eloquent response but Tony was heavy against his chest, leaning against him and looking up at him like he wanted another kiss, lips already slightly parted and just waiting. 

“Nothing, nothing.” Tony was mumbling against Steve’s neck where he pressed his face while Steve breathed in the spicy-clean scent of his hair. Tony bit him, sharp little nips that sparked across his skin in little star busts of pain that only served to sharpen everything from the heat and weight of him to the faint tingling in Steve’s lips. “It’s all nothing.” 

Steve dipped his head, cupping the back of Tony’s skull in his palm so he could pull his face up to press his lips against Tony’s but letting Tony lead the kiss. His tongue was everywhere, warm; pushing into Steve’s mouth like it belonged there and enticing Steve to pull him closer hold him tighter. Tony kissed like he wanted to crawl into his mouth, passion and heat through and through like everything Tony did. Steve kept his other hand on the small of Tony’s back fisting in the cotton of his jacket so that Tony couldn’t pull away even if he’d wanted to. 

Tony moaned loudly into his mouth, pushing up even closer, mouth pressing hard and firm as his other hand pulled at Steve’s shoulders desperate for more contact. 

“Bed, somewhat that-a-way.” Tony hissed, biting Steve’s bottom lip. He flicked his tongue against the sting soothing and inflaming in the same motion. Steve could feel the blush spreading down his chest, a diffuse sort of heat in his skin that made all the places his clothes touched feel like they were going to go _super nova_. He almost wanted to complain about the way that Tony kept biting him, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to because each little shock rattled something loose inside of him. 

They shouldn’t be moving so fast. It wasn’t proper. Steve really should let go of Tony and explain to him that he wanted to do this thing right. Only they had. Hadn’t they? Either way Steve couldn’t seem to let go any more than Tony could despite knowing that he should do what was right and good. He’d let go once, and _damn it_ if he was going to do it again. 

One kiss broke into a series of smaller kisses, dry pecks against Steve’s mouth that lingered sweetly. “No really, that way.” Tony smiled wickedly against his mouth, the wet curve of his bottom lip brushing Steve’s chin.

“You first.” Steve replied. He couldn’t help it he was smiling too-- feeling goofy. 

“No you first.” Tony mumbled as he pressed another kiss to Steve’s slack mouth. He was being difficult on purpose, well two could play that game. 

Steve grabbed the back of his thighs and hauled him upwards; Tony made a sort of squawking sound and grabbed him around the neck clutching him tightly and laughing faintly. “If you insist.” Steve said against Tony’s shoulder, rubbing the soft material of his shirt with his nose while hiding his smile. 

“That’s not fair. You’re not playing fair. You’re Captain America, you’re supposed to play fair.” Tony breathed against his hair, his voice all soft and shaky. His dick was hard and pressing against Steve’s stomach. “Bedroom, now.” He demanded tightening his thighs around Steve’s waist, and then proceeded to try and _lick the inside of his ear_. Steve jumped, and managed just barely not to toss them both into a doorframe. That felt weird, warm and kind of slimy, Tony sucked on his ear lobe and it was a little off-putting to be able to hear his breathing so loud and close like being in a hurricane, but it felt real good. He couldn’t stop the sort of rumbling groan that pulled from his chest. It felt nice despite the weird. Tony bit him (again) and Steve did almost drop him then, instead Steve sort of gripped him tighter fingers digging into Tony’s thighs, and Tony let out an embarrassing groan that vibrated from somewhere low in his chest. “Don’t do that. No wait, do that again.” 

“Tony.” Steve moaned. He wasn’t sure he could deal with this at all. It was going to kill him, there wasn’t any way that people survived it. “Tony, I—“ 

“Next door, guest bedroom.” They sort of crashed into it, and Steve was trying not to laugh because Tony was clinging to him like a creeper vine and between two super heroes the door was winning. “I bet you don’t even need a bed do ya Cap? You could fuck me right up against the wall.” Tony hummed, low and filthy against his temple, mouthing at his cheek. 

“I don’t think that’s possible.” Steve managed the door by Tony clinging to him like a limpet while he freed a hand to grope at the knob. 

“Oh honey,” Tony cooed ridiculously, “anything is possible with a little ingenuity. That’s my motto, making the impossible possible. Usually just needs a little engine oil.” 

“Oh god.” Steve breathed. “You can’t just say things like that.” Because he could picture it, would just need to support his legs, if Tony was flexible enough he press against him and slide right in. He could hold him up there where he couldn’t move and just like--. He blanked out a little there, didn’t have the right kind of experience to fill it in further, just his own imagination and the jokes the men used to share when it was really cold.

“Down down.” Tony wiggled out of his arms and fell onto the bed with a bounce. “Oh, look at you.” He practically purred. Tony was splayed across the bed, rumpled and kiss-bitten like in the photographs, all manic energy shining in his bright eyes. He looked like he was devouring Steve alive with his gaze. “How are you even real? If this is another crazy fume-induced dream I don’t even want to wake up. Wait, amend that, if you turn into a penguin, I reserve the right to freak the hell out. Now come down here big boy and fuck me.” 

“I— _what?_ ” Tony’s foot landed hot on his thigh and inched its way up dexterous toes curling against the muscle. Steve shivered, reaching down to touch his ankle because he couldn’t not touch when Tony was staring at him like that. When had he started to want this? 

“Penguins.” Tony grinned at him, fingering the buttons of his shirt, popping the top one with a deft flick of his nimble fingers. “Are not sexually attractive at all. But you most definitively are, like really really. I’ve been thinking about this for weeks now.”

“Really?” Steve breathed, he wasn’t sure why but he found the idea made his pulse jump. Tony pressed the arch of his foot up against the crease of his thigh, and Steve couldn’t help the instinctive jerk of his hips as his pants put a teasing pressure on his half-hard cock.

“Is that what it will take you to get in my bed? I’ll say anything you want me too.” Tony meant it too, eyes wide and honest. In any other situation that probably would have been sad. Steve unbuttoned his cardigan, fingers feeling numb and clumsy; it was bunched up around his waist from Tony’s legs anyways. Tony was quick, fingers flying over the tiny buttons of his own shirt leaving it hanging open; he was working on his cuff links when Steve got distracted by the glow of the arc reactor. It shone blue through the thin cotton weave of Tony’s undershirt obvious in a way it rarely was when Tony was wearing his suits. Sure Steve saw it when Tony was wearing the Iron Man suit, but it always looked more like part of Iron Man and less like part of Tony Stark. 

Steve reached out for him and Tony sort of wiggled away, kicking off his slacks and leaving him in a pair of clingy black boxers. 

“I can leave the shirt on, it’s no biggie.” He said, covering his chest with his hand right below the shape of the rector. Steve was used to watching Tony’s face and it was obvious that this was in fact a big deal no matter what words actually came out of his mouth. 

Steve grabbed the shirt and used it to haul Tony closer. “I’d prefer it if you didn’t.” Steve fingered the hem sliding the material between his thumb and finger feeling out the weave, unsure if he should pull it off if Tony was skittish about that, too forward? 

“Well then, in that case.” Tony grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled it over his head exposing his chest, and he rolled up and onto Steve’s hips at the same time, so he was shirtless and straddling Steve’s thighs. There was so much to look at and he couldn’t decide where to start; Tony was fit for his age, muscle definition spreading down from his shoulders to the faint bit of softness around his stomach. A trail of dark hair leading from his navel and down into the band of his briefs. His ribs moved softly under Steve’s fingers, cupping the curve and holding Tony still for a moment so he could look while Tony resisted the inactivity, he twisted around reaching for Steve’s pants. “Just lie back and think of America or something, I can handle the rest.” 

Steve ignored him; he let one hand drift up so he was brushing his thumb against one of Tony’s nipples feeling the faint difference in texture. Tony sucked a sharp breath through his teeth. The arc reactor itself was warm with body heat, the casing set sunk into Tony’s chest; the reactor core glowed blue steadily, the skin around it was rife with scar tissue, hard to see with the shifting lighting all different shades of pale. Tony wasn’t very good at sitting still—he’d be a terrible life model. 

“That’s how this is going to be is it?” Tony shifted, spreading his knees a little more on the bed and Steve had to shut his eyes. Tony was sitting on his dick, teasing pressure and heat through the thick material of his jeans. His cock pulsed, thickening with the surge of heat that flashed through him as Tony rocked his hips faintly. Just teasing. 

“Tony.” Steve begged, he wasn’t sure what he wanted, but he wanted it now. 

“Clothes, so ten minutes ago.” Tony muttered to himself as he tried to strangle Steve with his own t-shirt while trying to get it over Steve’s head. It took a lot more wiggling, and Tony couldn’t seem to keep on track for more than a few seconds before he needed to stop whatever he was doing, undoing Steve’s belt or fighting with the fly to lick his stomach or nuzzle his chest, before returning to the task at hand. 

“Pants off.” Tony declared, crawling off his lap and Steve missed the weight of him there. He obediently kicked them towards the end of the bed. Tony had the advantage in this situation and the sound decision would be to defer to his greater experience that and Steve was more than happy to comply. “I want to show you something good.” Tony’s smile promised the worst and the best he could do. 

With a final smacking kiss just to the left of his belly button Tony settled between his legs. Steve couldn’t watch anymore, it was already too embarrassing the way that Tony was staring at him hard and straining against the cotton of his briefs. There was no pretending this wasn’t happening --just the hard truth. Which meant he didn’t see it coming at all when Tony put his mouth over the head through the cloth; it felt like a sudden shock of heat and Steve jerked, caught in Tony’s hold against his hips and whined low in his throat desperately. 

“What are you doing?” He asked, as Tony went back to nosing around his navel facial hair tickling the softer skin on his lower stomach. 

“Inspecting the merchandise.” Tony hummed, and Steve had something to say in response to that, he really did; only it fled far and fast when Tony put his mouth back to better things. It was like being lit on fire from the inside, it wasn’t like his own hand at all, hotter and wetter and so silky smooth. The material quickly went wet with saliva as Tony made the most obscene sounds licking at it like he was seriously enjoying something. Steve was never going to be able to watch him eat anything again without imagining this exact moment. 

“Feels amazing.” Steve groaned, fisting his hands in the sheets and trying not to push too hard against the hold Tony had on his hips. It wouldn’t take much to break free and conscious effort not too. “Please?” 

“That’s it baby, but I can make it feel better.” 

Steve thought he might actually die when Tony pulled back the waist band of his briefs and licked at the head with the flat of his tongue. It was a sharp tingling jolt, almost ticklish just enough to have his spine curling, searching for a firmer touch. Tony did it again and again until Steve was writhing on the sheets wanting more but not really sure how to ask. “God, you’re incredible.” Tony’s voice was growl soft. “Get these out of the way.” 

Steve helped him by kicking off his soaked briefs, having done so he managed to find some deeper reserve of shame to feel embarrassed about the eager way his dick bounced against his stomach the slick head smearing the moisture against his skin. He was ashamed of just how eager he was. Jerking hard, every muscle in his stomach tightening, when Tony pressed a smacking kiss against his hip. “You know what you want don’t you?” 

Steve huffed out a strangled laugh, Tony was actually talking to his _penis_. 

Anything beyond a breathless whine was completely obliterated by Tony’s mouth. His fingers dug into the sheets and they tore with a quiet hiss. He couldn’t open his eyes, he just couldn’t. Wet, everything was wet and slick suction around his dick like it was trying to pull him inside out. There weren’t even words to explain how incredible it felt. The boys used to joke about this, but nothing at all could have prepared him for the actual experience. 

He had to open his eyes when Tony shifted around, curiosity getting the better of him. Tony was heavy against one of Steve’s legs pinning it with his entire body weight. Steve opened his eyes, just in time to watch Tony moaning with his mouth stretched obscenely wide around his cock. The image was seared onto the back of his retinas, everything from the too-pink stretch of his mouth to the fan of his dark eyelashes against his flushed cheeks. 

He couldn’t help it, a mix of the vibrations and just the image of his own cock sliding in and out of Tony’s mouth was enough. He choked on a mouthful of air as he came. It was lightening, too fast and too hard it was almost painful with the intensity of the crash. He should have thought more about Tony, letting him know somehow, but in that moment he forgot to be a gentleman. Forget everything but that one moment that stretched on forever and not nearly long enough. 

He stared hard at the ceiling when he his breathing stopped stuttering, he felt flushed all over and too-hot. Only he was distracted by Tony coughing spattering his hips with spit and come; Steve felt quite bad about that. As bad as he could feel when his brain had exploded all over the inside of his skull and he was floating somewhere above himself stupid and slow with endorphins. 

“Sorry.” Steve croaked. How was he even still here? “I’m sorry.” 

“It’s good.” Tony’s voice cracked and he coughed one more time before wiping at his mouth with one hand absently. “It’s all good.” 

“Sorry.” Steve said again, pushing himself up on his elbows so he could get a better look. Tony’s face was all flushed pink, but he was smiling. 

“It just means it was as good for you as it was for me, see?” 

He was right of course, Tony was pressing his own dick against Steve’s thigh and it was heavy and burning hot. Steve wasn’t sure what to do so he reached for him. Tony went willingly enough, the curve of his shoulder fit into Steve’s palm and he used it to tug Tony down flush against his chest. Steve then pulled him up into a kiss, licking at his mouth. Amazing mouth. Filthy and amazing and never stopping.

It tasted salty, and Steve hadn’t even thought about that, that was his own spunk he could taste there, it was a little gross, but Tony had just put Steve’s penis in his mouth so it was really the least he could do. Tony made these little sounds like he liked this part, tiny inarticulate sounds in the back of his throat hungry and a touch desperate. Tony’s back was firm and smooth, one long glide down to his hips where Steve pulled him closer, so close there wasn’t a sliver of space between them now, and Tony gasped against his mouth biting off a moan against his neck as he rocked softly against Steve’s stomach. 

“Oh Christ.” Tony cursed. 

Feeling bold Steve let his hand slip down until it rest lightly on Tony’s bottom. Tony shivered all over and pushed back against the slight pressure in an obvious way. His whole body rolled like a cat under a caress. “ _Yes_. Just like that.” 

Tony was above him, hips rolling in smooth circles rubbing his erection across his stomach as Steve mapped out the flex of his butt through his clingy briefs. He would have liked it if he could feel the skin, see if it was just as smooth there. Tony’s lips were hot with bruising, but that didn’t stop him from indulging himself in deep sucking kisses that left Steve’s chin pink where Tony’s facial hair scraped against it. 

Desire settled in his stomach low and hot where he was still half hard, it was just on the right side of painful. Wondering, Steve let his other hand slip down to his hip, pushing him a little lower so Tony was straddling his thighs instead. That felt incredible, still sensitive (he used to do this before when he was alone and had a tiny slice of time to himself on the front lines teasing himself long after he’d come just riding the crests) and it was even better for the way Tony moaned softly. 

“Oh. Hello,” Tony grinned at him, sitting back a little. “Is that part of being a super soldier, because if so, I completely approve. Bona-fide one hundred percent Stark endorsement. Wanna fuck me now?”

Steve swallowed hard. Tried to imagine again what it would be like and stumbled right into a block, couldn’t get past the idea. “Um...” 

“All you gotta do is say yes.” Tony bit at his chin, letting his weight push Steve into the bed. Tony continued to writhe under his hands and on top of him as he held him in place. 

“Yes.” Steve breathed, it was the only answer, and Tony let out a sound like a balloon deflating. 

“Oh fuck you.” Tony whined like he hadn’t been begging Steve to agree, he rolled off of Steve and crawled across the bed while simultaneously pushing his briefs down his thighs. A truly impressive display of multi-tasking, Steve flushed but didn’t look away. He had the right to that. Tony had a nice ass, an obvious product of at least a mild running regime. Steve rolled towards him, catching his foot and running a thumb over the jut of his ankle. 

Tony rolled them so that Steve was half over Tony, holding himself up on one hand with ease. Tony grinned at him, leaning up to press a slick kiss to Steve’s mouth. Steve chased him back down into the sheets, only to bite his lip in surprise when Tony grabbed his dick with a slick hand. Tony hummed, breathing out harshly as Steve pushed forward shoving Tony into the sheets with his thighs. 

“Sorry.” He mumbled embarrassed by his lack of restraint, he hadn’t meant to be rough, Tony gave his cock a little stroke and a wicked smile. 

“Don’t be, that’s really fucking hot. You can do it again at any time.” Tony angled his chin up for another kiss, leaving off what he was doing with his hands and Steve whined against his mouth in protest. “Just gimme a minute and I can blow your mind.” Tony whispered filthy against his mouth, his breath hot and promising. The last time Tony made a promise like that Steve had come so hard his head spun. 

“Okay.” Steve wasn’t sure what he was saying, just that Tony was wiggling under him eyes gone wide and unfocused. His mouth trailed off, lips going soft with distraction; Steve could only imagine what he was doing with his other hand to make him look like that. Steve couldn’t help himself from biting at Tony’s neck and tasting the faint traces of cologne, metal and salt and almost inexplicably coconut. Needed some way to retaliate. 

Steve could have happily stayed there, Tony shifting and groaning under him, letting out a hiss when Steve shifted his weight to one hand so he could toy with one of his nipples and map the bones of his ribs with the other. He especially like the sensation of having Tony under him, stuck in place for once right where Steve wanted him. 

“Okay okay, enough. If you don’t fuck me, I’m going to explode and the world would lose a leading engineering expert.” Tony said finally, voice sharp and almost whiny. Modest. 

“Really?” Steve huffed and Tony gave him an affronted look, completely out of place with the flush riding high on his cheeks.

Steve knew what to do in theory, in practice it was a little different but Tony was shoving at him and kicking him in the shins until he was sitting on his heels between Tony’s legs so there wasn’t a lot of time for second guessing himself or over-thinking of any kind. Tony was stunning spread out on the bed completely unable to hide the arc reactor letting the light bathe them both. “Be gentle with me.” Tony gave him a wide-eyed faux coquettish look. “Actually no. Go for it.” 

“Tony.” Steve laughed. This didn’t seem like a situation where he should be laughing and he should be more nervous but Tony was grinning at him, loose and pleased. 

“Come on.” Tony kicked him in the thigh. “Go go go, Avengers assemble and all that.” 

Steve wasn’t sure where to put his hands. Tony decided for him, wrapping one leg around his waist and kicking him in the arm in an attempt to put his other leg over his shoulder. Cupping Tony’s hip in one hand and his thigh in the other he pulled him up and a little closer. This was the bit he was nervous about. 

It wasn’t like anything else before. Tony’s mouth went slack eyes fluttering shut. Steve was fucking terrified, but it felt indescribable. He would have done anything for it not to hurt Tony, but Tony was busy kicking him in the thighs all impatience and desperation. The push inwards seemed like it went on forever, Tony hissing and cursing incentives and threats at him in equal measure, from half his empire to his own jet boots down to maiming him via removal of limbs if Steve didn’t ‘hurry the fuck up’. 

Then all of a sudden Tony’s ass was in the cradle of his hips and _Steve was completely inside him_. The thought was something huge. He rubbed his palm up and down Tony’s thigh until he shuddered skin breaking out in goose flesh under Steve’s skimming fingertips. 

“You good?” Steve’s voice came out rougher than he’d ever heard it. Near-wrecked already. 

“Fan-fucking-tastic.” Tony breathed. 

If he was careful, there, Steve shifted Tony’s legs until he could bend over pushing Tony’s thighs towards his chest and pressing a kiss to the side of his mouth. Tony chased his lips with a hungry sound, wrapping his fingers around his arms to hold him close unbothered by being bent double. 

“Right, show me what America’s made of.” He punctuated the order with vicious little bite to Steve’s mouth. 

Steve wanted to take it slow, but each shift and drag was like a sizzle burning in his veins, the faint tug of friction pulling at something low in his stomach and tempting him to push for more. Of course Tony was having none of that, he kicked and twisted against the bed until he was moving against Steve goading him deeper and harder completely shamelessly. Mostly he was getting in the way. Steve grabbed his hips and held him in place while Tony groaned loudly. This way he could control the pace. 

“You’re killing me.” Tony moaned, letting his head fall limp against the bedding. 

“You’ll live.” Steve pet his hip and ducked low so he could press a bite against the skin just to the left of the arc reactor. Tony whined, kicking his feet in protest. Shifting his grip a little better Steve adjusted his own stance and now he could slide in deeper when he raised on his toes a little. “More.” Tony demanded and Steve took that to heart letting himself go a little faster and a little harder. It was building in his stomach again, urging him to just take what he wanted from Tony’s body. Pleasure sharp and bright in the back of his brain his entire nervous system lighting up like the fourth of July.

“More more more.” Tony, always greedy, begged his right hand slipping down his body to fist at his cock, the tip wet and sliding along his stomach with the way Steve had him half lifted into his lap. 

It was easier if he pushed Tony’s legs out of the way. Tony hissed as Steve slid out to rearrange them again, and he couldn’t help but take a look. That was him there, the head of his dick spreading Tony open and he couldn’t help the moan that rumbled from him when he pushed back inside harder than he’d meant too because the visual of him sinking inside was too much. Tony yelped, tossing his head to the side back struggling to arch against it. 

The sounds were obscene. Steve got the distinct impression he would feel a little embarrassed about this later by how turned on he was, but in that moment the sound made when their skin slapped together was highlighted by Tony’s breathless moans and the little sounds that Steve couldn’t keep locked behind his teeth. Tony was playing with his own dick, fingering the head only to ignore it completely in favour of touching Steve’s abs with sticky fingers as if he couldn’t make up his mind what he wanted more. 

“Tony.” Steve breathed pulling him closer, his skin was all hot and it felt amazing rubbing against Steve as sensitized as he was a faint sheen of sweat making everything slide just right. But he lost the angle this way and he was torn, he wanted everything from Tony at once. He wanted to glut himself on Tony’s body and never ever come up for air. 

“Come on, just a little more.” Tony twisted one hand above him, flailed it around when he found the edge of the bed and decided to find a better place to grab. The sheets were an absolute mess around them, all tugged up and out of the neat corners and folds they had been in before. Steve kind of wanted to mess them up just a little more because he could. Because that’s what Tony would do. 

He grabbed at Tony, pulling him up by the shoulders and Tony slumped against his chest, whining softly as gravity pushed him as far down on Steve’s cock as his own flexibility would let him go. Steve shifted on the sheets, cradling Tony against his chest until they were more in the middle of the bed. Tony whined at him with each shift and pull, words without meaning just a jumble of sounds that weren’t strung together properly. 

With more room to manoeuvre Steve grabbed at Tony’s ass, using the grip to pull him up and let his own weight pull Tony back down. Tony made a filthy sound something crossed between a sob and groan that tangled briefly with a whimper letting the sharp edges of his nails dig into Steve’s skin. 

“I want you to touch me there,” Tony grabbed at one of his hands, lifting himself with the arm around Steve’s shoulders, and pushing Steve’s hand down until he fingers bumped against himself. “Can you feel it?”

“Tony.” Steve shook his head, scandalized (again), but Tony’s fingers were tangled with his refusing to let go and he could feel the hot slick place where Tony was stretched tight around him all sticky with lube. Steve tried to swallow but his mouth was completely dry and his stomach clenched, balls tightening at the wrongness of it all and just how hot that was. 

He couldn’t help it; he rubbed his thumb hard against the stretched bit of skin trying to understand the texture without being able to see it. Tony made an inarticulate strangled sound, his knuckles brushing faintly ticklish against Steve’s stomach as they moved feverishly over his own cock. Steve kissed sloppily at Tony’s mouth while Tony moaned through his orgasm. Wet heat splattered against Steve’s stomach. 

“Oh—g _o_ d.” Tony groaned his voice hitching over the vowel sound deliciously. Steve only just managed to stop himself from trying to grind up against Tony, but couldn’t stop the slow drag of his thumb across that too-hot little stretch of skin. It was fascinating. Tony shivered, limbs pulling in on himself convulsively like he couldn’t help it. “More.” 

“Are you—?“ 

“ _More._ ” Tony cut him off, aiming a kiss for Steve’s mouth and missing by a bit to land on the corner of his lips and simply mouthing wetly there. 

Tony was no help at all, moving in a jerky sort of non-rhythm in his lap, licking at his mouth languidly. “You could help.” 

“Make me.” Tony, bit him. It was never going to be the easy way with him was it? Lifting Tony by digging his fingers into the meat of his butt he had enough space to fuck up into him and Tony cursed a filthy streak that Steve echoed in his own head. He bit back the desperate sounds he knew were bubbling in his lungs. He’d lost the depth, but he could hike his knees up, dig his feet into the bed. Like that he had all the leverage he needed setting a brutal pace. 

The movement was shallow, but it was just what he needed. Steve couldn’t breathe, couldn’t pull himself away from Tony long enough to catch his wits. He was making the most embarrassing sounds, muffled by Tony’s tongue as he quickly approached his second orgasm. Tony broke their kiss with a startled yelp as Tony pulled him down while he pressed up, trying to push as deep inside as he could possibly get. It was red-hot, pushing out from his balls to echo in tiny pulses all across his body, toes curling in the sheets with the force of it. 

It left Steve breathing hard, Tony in his lap looking smug and running hands across Steve’s shoulders absently. He wasn’t feeling inclined to move, but they should at least clean up.

“So, does this thing go again if I put a quarter in?” Tony didn’t look like he was ready to go again, he looked like he was ready for a nap. 

“Where,” Steve began and trailed off, decided he didn’t want to know. “Probably?” Steve shrugged. He might need a little more time between this time. It wasn’t on the list of physical enhancements that S.H.I.E.L.D. was currently testing. There was a scary thought. 

“Really?” Tony perked up a little. Steve flushed. 

“Come on, you’re all sticky.” Steve poked him until Tony became irritated enough to roll off to the side. “Let’s get cleaned up.” 

“Fine. I expected you to be more on the cuddles and romancing.” Tony grumbled as he rolled off the edge of the bed and onto his feet slowly. Steve stared after him as he staggered out of the room completely naked. He was pretty sure that everything was Tony’s fault. Somewhere in all of that, it was definitely Tony’s fault. Steve pried himself out of the sheets, his fingers slipping across the tear in the bedding. Steve flushed brilliant red and shuffled after Tony, belatedly trying to hide himself from JARVIS who _watched everything_. 

Tony’s shower was truly decadent; a hedonistic oasis, filled with steam and a half asleep Tony leaning against the wall staring off into the distance and letting the water beat down over him. “See, all clean.” Tony mumbled. 

Steve smiled and reached for the soap. 

The next morning Steve woke to an empty bed, the sun shining through the windows in a way it never did for his own quarters in the shadow of the next sky scraper over. Of course Stark tower was the tallest around, if anyone was going to throw a shadow it was going to be Tony Stark or none. Steve smiled a little stupidly to himself. He still couldn’t quite comprehend that Tony had let him do that to him. 

“Tony?” He called out into the silence. 

“Good morning Mr. Rogers.” JARVIS answered, Steve pulled up the sheet a little, trying to be polite about it. “Worry not, I have already observed everything you have to... offer.” That was slightly less than the usual dry dignified tones. Steve wasn’t sure if he should be amused or horrified. “So to speak.” 

“Where is Tony?” Steve could feel the blush getting worse, spilling down his chest.

“Master Stark had an urgent meeting with Mrs. Potts; he’s in his office on the 42nd floor. Would you like me to contact a car to take you back?” Steve rolled his shoulders. It looked like a nice day outside; _he could walk_. 

~~

By the time Steve saw Tony again there was a lurid mouth shaped bruise on his neck that was fading nicely to a faint green. Steve couldn’t stop staring at it, even as Tony stood on top of a table in the middle of the mess hall pacing the one-two step from one edge to the other as he lectured the S.H.I.E.L.D. employees on proper internet etiquette and the upgrades to the computer infrastructure.

“I made better with my k’nex set when I was 6,” Tony flailed his arms around trying to explain himself-- he didn’t hold back on what he really thought of their multi-billion dollar headquarters. “There are emergency shutdown relays if certain aspects of the facility are compromised, thus the systems can all continue running in isolation through all floors-- it was a stupid idea to have it all centralized anyways. I’ve also re-written a lot of the firewall codes. I realize this is essentially a government facility, but do you really need to run on the windows version from the 60s? No one even uses that anymore.”

That mark would fit Steve’s mouth perfectly. 

Steve had no idea what Tony was talking about, and for once it wasn’t even a generation gap techno-babble futurist thing, it was all down to plain old human distraction. All enhancements aside Steve was just a man. 

“Any questions at this point?” He was still standing on top of the table looking down at the junior agents assembled at his feet like an adoring flock. Grand gestures or go home. 

“Yes, I do. Are you tracking me when I watch porn on S.H.I.E.L.D. computers?” Steve hadn’t even noticed Clint sneak into the meeting, he wasn’t supposed to be back from his mission yet, still in some ‘redacted’ area of the Middle East. Every head in the room swivelled towards him a quiet shuffle going through the crowd in eerie synchronization, except for Tony who just kind of smirked at the room, looked over the edge of his sunglasses down at them.

“No Barton, you watch really freaky porn. Like, I don’t even want to know how you get off what with all the whips and the chains. But if you’re really worried about it I can post your browsing history publicly. It’s ... informative.”

“Fuck off Mr. Stark.” Barton saluted him lazily and Tony promptly started talking again. Steve could just make out the shape of Natasha next to Clint, lounging in a plastic chair like it was her throne. The junior agents were looking like they were trying hard not to laugh or even smile. They hadn’t earned their Agent-Coulson-man-of-ice badges yet, but it was a good effort all around. 

“As usual, be careful what links you open with your e-mail accounts, and if it looks like dodgy porn or discount Viagra remember: if you buy bulk you’ll save money and not get computer viruses on the extremely expensive system. Which isn’t as good as mine, but it passes muster.”

Steve should be paying attention to this. It was probably important; no dodgy porn, no Viagra, check. He swallowed and watched Tony pace another quick little circuit across the table. They hadn’t the chance to talk yet. He wanted to pin Tony down again for just a second to talk to him, or maybe just to press a kiss to that constant erratic movement of his mouth because Tony was at his best when he was all heat and energy and Steve was just beginning to really see that. That and Steve honestly understood nothing about the computer upgrades that Tony had been working on. He’d been consulting on internal security but even months later Steve still wasn’t sure of the scope of his work. 

Tony wrapped up the little info session by jumping down onto a chair and then the floor giving the assembled agents a wave and vanishing. It was a talent. One moment he was there and the next he was just gone. 

Now that Steve knew he was in the building he was going to track him down. Steve wanted to have their little chat. If only because it was rude to do _that_ to someone without at least buying them dinner once, Steve had sensibilities. (Tony always paid, never even once bothered to look at the bill because ‘what was the point in being a billionaire if you need worry about dinner bills?’). Their not-relationship was in a limbo and Steve wanted his feet on solid ground. There were enough uncertainties, this at least he could handle. 

He was stalking the halls starting from the bottom levels and moving up, the inside of S.H.I.E.L.D. was aggressively banal as if someone had tried to recreate the most typical office building in America and started with the carpets working their way up. Aside from the laboratory wings which were tiny slices of sci-fi film specials the middle floors were ugly-pattern office cubicles with white-wash walls and kitchens all filled with passive aggressive signs about cleaning up after yourself and minding the best-before dates of items in the fridge. Steve didn’t go into the cubicles, Clint wouldn’t even go there despite having a desk somewhere: there was nothing quite like a horde of bored ninjas trying to do mountains of paperwork (Clint’s words of course).

“You’re not being very subtle about this at all. I’d say I was disappointed but I am actually sort of impressed that Tony is as quiet as he has been. PR has been on code red threat alert.” Coulson was leaning against the wall like he was holding it up and like he had simply been waiting for Steve to find him.

“ _What?_ ” Steve didn’t know what to say about that. It wasn’t illegal anymore, even if there was a small part of his stomach that crawled with the thought of Coulson _knowing_ ; like it would make him less of a man somehow. He tried not to shift and look like he was guilty of anything. Something like leaving that _perfect mouth shaped bruise_ on Tony’s neck. It wasn’t working very well, he could tell by the flood of heat in his face, and the sceptical look Coulson was giving him. “What are you referring too?”

“I am referring of course to your ill-advised obsession with one Tony Stark.” Coulson said it in such a dry tone that Steve instantly began to frown. “You were spotted by several mobile devices in the restaurant with Stark and some of his adoring flock of debutants.” 

“I don’t think my private life is really that big of a deal.” There was no reason for shame; no reason to hide except for common decency the bedroom belonged in the bedroom (of course Tony’s seemed to belong on the internet and that was little worrying but Steve couldn’t resist the pull of him for anything), Steve felt his teeth grind together. 

“Until Tony you had no private life, you didn’t even want to leave the base.” His stomach twisted, that was indeed true. “I just wanted to warn you to be discreet in the future. I am in charge of managing the Avengers initiative and out of the pair, you are the most likely to listen to reason.” Maybe Coulson didn’t know Steve as well as Steve had thought if he thought that. 

Steve nodded curtly. “Is that an order?”

“Consider it a suggestion.” Coulson tipped his head at him, “I do hope you know what you’re doing Captain Rogers.”

To be honest Steve didn’t have the faintest, but he was beginning to see that that was pretty normal as far as everything was concerned. The future was too fast to keep up he’d lost his grip on it before he even had it. It was just a matter of moving along anyways. “I think I’m doing pretty fine.” Coulson looked kind of pained, and Steve never did figure out whatever was going on between Coulson and Tony that made them so irritated with each other.

“You are either a very brave or a very stupid man. Not many people decide to bet on Tony Stark of all men.” Coulson didn’t mean any of it as an insult (well he did), the realization hit like a train. Coulson was just worried about him.

Steve gave a small tight smile, “you’re not the first one to tell me that.”

“I’m sure I’m not. Have a nice afternoon Captain Rogers.” 

“You too Agent Coulson.”

The brief chat didn’t dent his determination at all. People had been telling Steve all about Tony since before they’d even met. The internet had some really nasty things to say about him too. They weren’t wrong either, Tony could be all those things, but he could be a lot more too. Steve knew a lot more about untapped potential than most. Sometimes all it took was someone unexpected offering a long shot. 

He eventually found Tony sulking outside of Fury’s office. When Tony caught sight of him he nodded, clapping his hands together to squish the blue floating shapes into nothingness.

“He kicked me out, had Maria literally kick me out she is a lot stronger than she looks. Can you believe that?” Tony frowned at him.

“A little actually.”

“You wound me.” Up close Steve didn’t even care about the bruise anymore, he was too distracted by the rush of adrenaline through his veins, like prepping for battle but sweeter. He was too distracted by how Tony’s personality filled in all the space around them, like he was just too much to be contained by mere skin and bones besides being the most fragile and human of the team. “Anyways. So.” Tony rocked back on his heels. “I’ve been thinking, I mean I am always thinking, but I’ve been thinking about things.”

“Oh?” He swallowed only to find that his mouth was dry and his stomach was twisting. The feeling did remind him of how Peggy used to tie him in knots, but she wasn’t here, and Tony was so unapologetically Tony that it was hard to even compare them now.

“I’ve decided to accept your offer to join the Avengers. Full-time. No more kiddie gloves.” Tony has his hands in his pockets; looking out the window and anywhere but at Steve. He wasn’t sure what that meant, he knew he wanted to touch, just to reaffirm himself, but this was a moment for Captain America, who always knew what he was doing, and not the awkward fumbling of Steve Rogers.

“Are you sure?” Steve watched him and Tony squirmed looking uncomfortable and still defiant. 

“Probably the biggest thing I’ve ever commit to in my life.” Tony laughed sharp and humourless. “Besides... I mean like, sometimes I’m needed.”

“Yeah.” Steve nodded. “I’m glad, I really am.”

“Remember the hives.” Tony glared at him from the corner of his eye and Steve laughed. “It’s also not because you’re built like a stallion and can go three times a night.” Tony winked at him and Steve bit his lip to stop the grin.

“I was wondering where I fit in this.”

“Somewhere between family issues and social conscious.” Tony shook his head ruefully.

~~

“So, like you and Tony’s mom.” Clint said, they were standing in the kitchen on the living levels watching the microwave pop the third bag of popcorn. There were three more sitting on the counter all unwrapped and waiting to be popped. Natasha was digging around in the freezer for her hidden pint of ice cream (Steve had walked in on Bruce telling Thor in vivid detail why he should just put it back, some prizes were not meant to be won.) Steve fidgeted a little determined to look casual. “And now-- you and Tony?” 

“Clint.” Natasha shot him a look like a throwing dagger around the fridge door. One pint of rocky road clutched in her hand and warning in her tone.

“No, I mean, this is like Jerry Springer weird.” He waved his arms up and down Steve’s body. “Jerry Springer meets Dr. Who.”

Steve wasn’t sure what to say to that. So instead he didn’t say anything. He couldn’t explain it anyways, how he’d he got from there to here. There was no way to say it that didn’t sound bad. How he’d gone from a ‘a piece of Peggy (and Howard)’ to ‘Tony Stark, (a piece of Peggy)’. They hadn’t talked about it and Steve wasn’t in a hurry to do anything but embrace the moment before it was gone. 

“Eloquent.” Natasha snorted, snagged three spoons from around Steve and made for the couch. Movie night was still a thing. “Don’t be a dick.”

“I’m not. I’m honestly curious.” Clint turned his puppy look on Steve who just laughed.

“I wonder if you’ve done an honest thing in your whole life?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.” Clint replied.

“Where is the corn sacrifice?” Thor boomed from the living room and Steve chuckled.

Today they were watching a kung-fu film; Clint had been yowling and trying to karate chop Bruce all evening which was amusing as long as Bruce found it funny and not irritating. Steve wasn’t sure what it was all about, but these things usually explained themselves one way or another.

Thor was sitting on the couch again, but he was holding the tub of ice cream, and like a true prince had Pepper curled up to one side and Natasha the other, all three of them sharing. It might have been the threat of Natasha with a spoon or maybe this was part of Thor’s humility and humanity training but Thor was eating at a sedate normal-human kind of pace. Tony was sitting all squished into the corner of the smaller couch making faces at Pepper as she ignored him completely.

“What’s Jerry Springer?” Steve asked, just loud enough, and with the big innocent eyes that made Clint look cagey while Bruce and Pepper both glared at him.

“It’s kind of like a travelling freak show.” Tony eventually mumbled.

“I hear Barton is most knowledgeable on this.” Thor said around his spoonful of ice cream.

“Circus. Not freak show.” Clint snapped back, sulking.

Steve let all the hot bags of popcorn drop to the table, snagging one to snack on (the grease interfered with Tony’s holograms so he wouldn’t eat it but he would stare at it longingly while the desire for work and the desire for junk food warred.) The couch wasn’t really big enough for the two of them, but it didn’t seem to bother Tony who wiggled until he was comfortable pressed up against Steve’s side. Resting his head on Steve’s shoulder Tony looked at him, grinned a little wickedly.

“Springer would eat you alive baby.” Tony muttered.

Whatever Steve had to say was cut off by the black screen suddenly coming to life, Fury’s face filling the wall with the two words that got them all moving. “ **Avengers assemble.** ”

Pepper finished off the ice cream (claiming it was nervous eating), but Natasha didn’t stay mad for long.


End file.
